Holy See condemns human trafficking and exploitation

(June 18, 2010) The Catholic Church condemns every form of human trafficking and exploitation and the rejection of those who often flee intolerable situations but at the same time she wishes that inflow of refugees be regulated and there be measures that guarantee security and legitimacy of both the hosts as well as immigrants. The remark was made by Archbishop Antonio Maria Vegliò, the President of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, at a prayer meeting on Thursday evening in Rome in view of Sunday’s World Refugee Day. Describing the huge phenomenon of migration as a ‘humanitarian crisis’, the Vatican official recalled the many who died during their long and painful journey to escape poverty, oppression, violence and war at home. Archbishop Vegliò condemned the ‘unscrupulous greed” of organized crime and the “aggressive surge of human slavery” that today account for about a million people a year. He said the Church condemns such practices and calls for regulated inflow refugees. He said that industrialized countries that cannot always absorb all immigrants must have measures in place to guarantee the security and legality in host communities as well as for new arrivals. World Refugee Day is marked every year on June 20, and this year’s observance has as its theme, "Home," in recognition of the plight of more than 40 million uprooted people around the world.