Few of us know that December 2 is International Day for
the Abolition of Slavery. If this very issue may sound unreal, it is
unfortunately no fiction at all.
«Millions of our fellow human beings continue to live as contemporary slaves,
victims of abominable practices like human trafficking, forced labour and sexual
exploitation. Countless children are forced to become soldiers, work in sweat
shops or are sold by desperate families, and women are brutalized and traded
like commodities» United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon declared in his
message to the world a few days ago.
Mr. Ban called upon the increased mobilization of the international community to
denounce and eradicate this atrocious reality of our times. He emphasized the
need to understand why and how slavery is so common in so «civilized» an age.
«We have to recognize that endemic poverty, social exclusion and widespread
discrimination allow this practice to fester» he added.
While there is no doubt that the increasingly fragilized and unjust
socio-economical fabric creates an environment propitious for the thriving of
these forms of exploitation, is it the only cause of this aberrant plague?
In the face of flagrant social inequalities and exclusions of their fellow human
beings, citizens have a choice: they can come together and respond with
intelligence, responsibility, solidarity, care, and concern, rather than giving
in to the instincts of shameless sharks greedy to take advantage of the despair
of others. Slavery is promoted by traffickers, pimps, and buyers, not by the
economy.
Modern slavery takes its roots in the extreme moral and spiritual impoverishment
of a humanity who has forgotten that the free consciousness can raise above the
conditioning of circumstances.
