From Anglican Communion News Service:
The Archbishop of Canterbury has sent a message of support to an anti-human trafficking conference organised by the Christian organisation Hope for Justice.
In a message sent to the Hope Conference 2013, which took place last Friday and Saturday in Leicester, Archbishop Justin said that trafficking was ‘one of the greatest scandals and tragedies of our age’. He prayed that the conference ‘might help to transform awareness, as the world urgently needs to wake up to the scale of human trafficking that is modern day slavery’.Read the message below:
‘Trafficking in human beings is one of the greatest scandals and tragedies of our age. It is intolerable that millions of fellow human beings should be violated in this way, subjected to inhuman exploitation and deprived of their dignity and rights. This outrage should concern each one of us, because what affects one part of humanity affects us all. Virtually every part of this world is touched in some way by the cruelty and violence associated with this criminal activity.
‘I am encouraged to see that Hope for Justice is drawing so many together to speak out and act against this injustice. This conference is about touching individual lives, about reaching and releasing individuals from violent control and fearful manipulation. Hope for Justice, alongside other outstanding organisations both faith-based and secular, has developed practical strategies for raising awareness, rescuing and restoring individuals and supporting prosecutions. I commend these issues and the people caught up in trafficking to our prayers and action. I also pray that your conference might help to transform awareness, as the world urgently needs to wake up to the scale of human trafficking that is modern day slavery.’