UN Briefing Trafficking in persons: ‘No longer slaves, I call you friends’

Nelson Mandela once said, “To deny any person their human rights is to challenge their very humanity.” We are once again faced with this challenge, as Jan. 11 marks the National Human Trafficking Awareness Day in the United States and as Pope Francis similarly named Feb. 8 as the International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking. In his recent message for the New Year, Pope Francis wrote against slavery and reminds the world that millions of people are still deprived of their freedoms and rights as they are forced to live in modern day slavery.