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Children are subjected to forced labor in extractive sectors, including in coal mining.

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DECLARATION OF RELIGIOUS LEADERS AGAINST MODERN SLAVERY
Religious leaders have long played a vital role in combating human trafficking. On December 2, 2014, leaders representing Anglican, Buddhist, Catholic, Hindu, Jewish, Orthodox, and Islamic faiths met for the first time in history to sign a declaration pledging to end modern slavery and calling for action against it as a moral imperative.
These leaders urged their followers to work to find ways to end human trafficking. Each religious authority gave a statement urging the world to support this effort, including Hindu leader Mata Amritanandamayi, who said, “if we fail to do something, it will be a travesty against future generations.”

We, the undersigned, are gathered here today for a historic initiative to inspire spiritual and practical action by all global faiths and people of good will everywhere to eradicate modern slavery across the world by 2020 and for all time.
In the eyes of God,* each human being is a free person, whether girl, boy, woman or man, and is destined to exist for the good of all in equality and fraternity. Modern slavery, in terms of human trafficking, forced labour and prostitution, organ trafficking, and any relationship that fails to respect the fundamental conviction that all people are equal and have the same freedom and dignity, is a crime against humanity.**
We pledge ourselves here today to do all in our power, within our faith communities and beyond, to work together for the freedom of all those who are enslaved and trafficked so that their future may be restored. Today we have the opportunity, awareness, wisdom, innovation and technology to achieve this human and moral imperative.

His Grace Most Reverend and Right Honourable Justin Welby, Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi al-Modarresi Archbishop of Canterbury Sheikh Naziyah Razzaq Jaafar, Special advisor (representing Venerable Bhikkhuni Thich Nu Chan Khong (representing Grand Ayatollah Sheikh Basheer Hussain al Najafi)
Zen Master Thích Nhât Hanh) Sheikh Omar Abboud
The Most Venerable Datuk K. Sri Dhammaratana, Chief High Rabbi Dr. Abraham Skorka Priest of Malaysia
His Holiness Pope Francis Rabbi Dr. David Rosen
Her Holiness Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma) His Eminence Metropolitan Emmanuel of France (representing His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew)
Dr. Abbas Abdalla Abbas Soliman, Undersecretary of State of Al Azhar Alsharif (representing Mohamed Ahmed
El-Tayeb, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar)
*The Grand Imam of Al Azhar uses the word “religions.”
**The term “crime against humanity” has a particular legal meaning that the U.S. Department of State does not view as being implicated here.

Religious leaders from around the world met at the Vatican on December 2, 2014, to sign the historic Declaration of Religious Leaders against Modern  Slavery.

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THE 15TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE  PALERMO PROTOCOL

This year marks the 15th anniversary of the adoption of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (Palermo Protocol). The impact of the Palermo Protocol has been remarkable—today, 166 countries have become a party to the Protocol. Many countries have implemented the “3P” paradigm of prosecuting traffickers, protecting victims, and preventing the crime through the passage and implementation of national anti-trafficking laws. Countries continue to update their legal framework to better address this crime. In 2014, Haiti enacted the Law to Combat Trafficking in Persons. Burundi also enacted its first anti-trafficking law in 2014. In March 2015, the United Kingdom enacted the Modern Slavery Act to refine the country’s legal framework.
While the promulgation of anti-trafficking criminal laws points to increased commitment to address the crime, challenges in fully implementing the promise of Palermo remain. In an effort to monitor implementation of the Palermo Protocol, the United Nations in 2004 established a special rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, who conducts fact-finding missions to study human trafficking conditions and provide recommendations on ways to better address the problem. Over the past two years, the special rapporteur has visited Malaysia, Morocco, Italy, the Bahamas, Belize, and Seychelles.
In 2009, the Conference of Parties to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) convened a working group on trafficking in persons to facilitate implementation of the Palermo Protocol and make recommendations to States parties. The working group has met five times and recommended governments involve civil society as partners in anti-trafficking efforts; consider investigating suspected traffickers using a wide range of tools including tax and labor law; and consider using administrative tools and regulations to combat the crime. The working group will meet again in November 2015 to continue discussion of the implementation of the Palermo Protocol and make further recommendations. While 2015 is a milestone, particularly in the near universal adoption of the Protocol, significantly more must be done in the next decade and beyond to fulfill its mandate.

In 2014, The New York Times reported about  Pavitra,  a  domestic  worker who had migrated to Oman, where she was jailed for five months after being raped by her employer’s husband and becoming pregnant.
She was never paid for the eight months she had worked. In many countries, it is difficult for police to detect abuse, nonpayment of wages, and other trafficking indicators for workers in private  residences.

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From the ground to the top we need to create network[s].
From governments, legal, medical, social institutions,
businesses to schools, local communities, individuals. We have to involve all. Traffickers are extremely well connected.
We need to be, too.
– Jana, survivor of sex trafficking, in her address to the UN Human Rights Council

Migrant workers from South and Central Asia flock to the Gulf for construction work. Some labor brokers charge workers recruitment fees, which are often difficult to repay and can facilitate debt bondage.

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