The indefensible gap

An appeal “to pay greater attention to the new forms of slavery that are perhaps worse than the old slave trade” was launched by the African and European bishops at the end of their joint seminar “I have seen the affliction of my people.. I know their sufferings” (Ex 3:7). Slavery and new forms of slavery”, held at Cape Coast, in Ghana, from 13 to 18 November, on the initiative of the CCEE (Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe) and of SECAM (Symposium of the Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar). A joint message will be sent to the Lisbon Summit of heads of state and of government of the European Union and the African Union (8-9 December). “The new forms of slavery (trafficking of human beings, forced labour, child soldiers, prostitution, etc.) – say the bishops, together with representatives of the Holy See and of humanitarian Catholic agencies – are mainly due to the huge economic disparity between rich and poor countries, and between rich and poor in every society”. According to the bishops what’s needed “to reduce this gap” is “to achieve a new international economic order that may guarantee a fairer distribution of the world’s resources”. But more especially, “it’s important to put an end to the urge to dominate others and to the culture of slavery and servitude”. During the meeting emphasis was especially given to some aspects that still prevent the development of Africa. They include: “an unjust system of trade between Africa and the rest of the world; foreign debt; the trafficking of human beings and drugs; sexual exploitation; forced labour; forced prostitution; child soldiers and street children”. In tackling all these ills the bishops call for “a culture of respect for human rights”, emphasizing the role of the Church in the “pastoral care of migrants” and in “her duty of advocacy”. The bishops of the two continents will meet again in Liverpool, in England, in November 2008, while in 2009 a delegation of European bishops will join with African bishops in celebrating the 40th anniversary of SECAM. A symposium on evangelization will be held in Rome in 2010. The following dispatch was filed by Patrizia Caiffa, SIR Europe’s correspondent at Cape Coast. IN PRAYER IN THE CASTLE OF ELMINA. The thirty bishops attending the seminar also prayed in the castle of Elmina, one of the 48 fortresses/prisons built by the Europeans (Portuguese, Dutch, British, Swedish and Danes) along the coast of the Gulf of Guinea, through which passed some 10 million slaves from West African before being shipped towards America and Europe. The symbolic meeting commemorated the second centenary of the official end of the African slave trade (even if many scholars and the Africans themselves confirm that it illegally continued until 1870). The Archbishop of Accra, the Most Rev. CHARLES PULMER-BUCKLE called for prayers on behalf of the victims and pointed out that “over 20-22 million slaves were deported from all over Africa, including the more remote areas”. The castle of Elmina, built by the Portuguese and then seized by the Dutch in 1800, is an imposing white building facing the ocean. From the beauty of its exterior no one could imagine the tragedies that took place, or the horrors committed, within its walls for over four centuries. But as one makes one’s way from the imposing entrances to the dark and forbidding prisons of the men and women, where from 150 to 300 slaves were packed together in sweltering rooms just a few metres in length, one finds oneself confronted with the shocking and historically documented truth. Finally, after passing through a narrow and dark passage, one emerges directly on the oceanfront, where the boats awaited into which the slaves were packed in unimaginable squalor for the long voyage. As was recalled several times during the meeting, all this trafficking of human beings did not take place without the complicity of the local population, who captured “human cargo” in the hinterland to sell them to the Europeans in exchange for trumpery goods such as mirrors, beads, clocks and weapons, given that money was not in use. The coast of Ghana is punctuated with 34 fortresses used for this infamous trade. At the end of their visit the bishops also visited, in the centre of Elmina, the cemetery of the first missionaries killed in Ghana. THE DOCUMENT OF SECAM. Economic partnership accords between the European Union and the African Union, the environmental and social impact of the mining industries, and the question of migration: these are the main contents of the document drawn by the Justice and Peace Commission of SECAM (Symposium of the Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar). It will probably be distributed to all the bishops of Europe and Africa to propose it to their respective governments. “Some of the most burning issues that depend on common policies in Europe and Africa are tackled in the document”, explained Firmin Adjahossou, who heads the programme “Good Governance” and Justice and Peace of SECAM, in a briefing to SirEurope. The many requests to governments include that of “changing the way in which Europe negotiates with Africa”, especially with regard to the economic accords with the ACP countries (the former colonies of Africa, Caribbean and Pacific). “Formulated in the way they are – explained Adjahossou – they would force over 750 million people to remain in poverty for the rest of their lives”. The document advises African leaders “not over-hastily to sign the accords” and to conduct “awareness-raising campaigns”. With regard to the activities of mining industries in Africa, it asks Europe to “change styles of consumption and promote the use of natural resources”, and especially to “formulate clear policies and legal frameworks to control the mining industries in an effective way”. “We would also like independent studies to be conducted, at an early stage – says Adjahossou – to control the environmental, social and human rights impact [of these industries] in a form that local populations would be able to understand, so as to enable them to say no to these projects if they were to violate their rights”. The document also asks African governments to “grant licences only after the prior consent of the local communities” and “put an end to all acts of intimidation and imprisonment of those who campaign against corruption, human rights violations and the destruction of the environment”. With regard to migration, the document recommends, among other things, the ratification of the International Convention on the protection of the rights of migrant workers and their families. 12 MILLION IN “FORCED LABOUR”. Over 12.3 million people in the world are pressed into “forced labour”, of whom 20% by the state or by the armed forces (2.5 million), while 2.4 million are the victims of the trafficking of human beings. And of all the victims of exploitation for sexual ends “it is estimated that 40-50% are children”. The data published by the ILO (International Labour Organization) were presented by Archbishop AGOSTINO MARCHETTO , secretary of the Pontifical Council for Migrant and Itinerant People. Forced labour – he explained – includes sexual exploitation, domestic and agricultural work, especially in Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa. “Slave practices are also widespread on the farm plantations of West Africa in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Mali and Togo – explained Monsignor Marchetto – as also in the sugar-cane plantations of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. India, Nepal and Pakistan, too, are notorious for their history of exploitation”. But forced labour “is also present in the industrialized countries – he continued – with some 360,000 people involved, as well as 260,000 workers in the Middle East and North Africa and 210,000 in the countries of transit”. 56% of the victims of economic exploitation “are women and girls”. THE EXPLOITED OF MOZAMBIQUE. In Mozambique thousands of men emigrate every summer to work in the great plantations of South Africa, but return home, after six or seven months of hard and irregular work, without pay and without documents. That is the new form of slavery denounced by Bishop LUCIO ANDRICE of Xai-Xai, in Mozambique. “After having worked for months, without contract, in the farms that sell agricultural produce to the multinationals – explains Msgr. Andrice – these men are then sent back to the frontier, travelling in trains in inhumane conditions, without money and without documents. Many people have told me of this problem and some offices within the Church are closely monitoring the phenomenon. We want to be the voice of our compatriots, but so far we have met with little sympathy from governments, media, or even from the bishops of South Africa, to whom we have pointed out the problem”. Another phenomenon reported by the bishop is the vagabondage of heads of families, moving from city to city in Mozambique in periods of drought in search of work. “But more often than not they return home empty-handed and demand from their womenfolk what they have laboriously been able to produce, despite the fact that they have had to cope alone at home with all the work to do and with five or six children to bring up”. In the bishop’s view, to address all the problems linked to migration, the Church “must work on people’s consciences, so that they refuse to accept the new slavery of work without pay”. THE DIAMONDS OF ANGOLA. Each month thousands of migrants from Senegal, Mali, Congo and Zambia go to mine for diamonds in Angola, thanks to the complicity of the security forces. But they return home empty-handed and without documents due to (purely cosmetic) operations to restore legality “that serve only to fill the pockets of the police, by exploiting the work of others”. This situation is denounced by the Archbishop of Lwena, the Most Rev. GABRIEL MBILINGI . “The police forces, badly paid, live on corruption and allow all these African migrants to pass through the frontiers for 100 or 200 dollars – said Mbilingi -. But when they find out that these migrants have diamonds in their possession they pretend to liberate the country with crackdowns called Operation Diamonds, to convince us that what they are doing is right. But the wealth remains in their hands; it is they, the police, who especially exploit the work of migrants. The migrants then return home and in the following month try their luck once again”. Unfortunately, adds the archbishop, “the Church is little present in these areas due to a lack of structures and priests”. He also drew attention to another situation, which has arisen after the civil war, with 85,000 disbanded soldiers of UNITA (the rebel group) who still wait, vainly, to be socially integrated in the life of the country, as provided for in the peace accords. “But the government, for political reasons and because it fears they could become strong – he explains – is not in favour of their integration. They have failed to find work, not only those who knew nothing but the trade of soldiers, but also those are professionally qualified – as doctors, nurses or teachers. So the former soldiers and their families have become the new slaves. It’s a dangerous situation that risks exploding in a rebellion, also because we’ll have general elections in 2008”. THE MOLDAVIAN CHURCH AGAINST PEOPLE TRAFFICKING. A grassroots awareness-raising campaign against the trafficking of women and children throughout the territory of Moldavia, on TV and in the press, in schools and in places of public concourse, in police stations and on public transport, has been mounted by the Moldavian Church, through a workgroup set up in 2001 by the Bishop ANTON COSA of Chisinau. Apart from providing information, explained Monsignor Cosa, “we have trained special staff, also through periods of experience in counselling the victims of trafficking in Italy, and created a network of collaboration between European Catholic organizations”. In addition, “intensive dialogue has been established with street children and those sections of society who don’t normally read the papers, don’t have TV at home and are therefore cut off from basic information”. In spite of the success of the campaign, he pointed out, “we soon realized that it wasn’t enough just to inform people, unless at the same time the immediate problem of poverty was tackled, through interventions of support and solidarity”. The projects in question include training for youth and local development, as well as measures to facilitate the return home of hundreds of victims of trafficking. 50,000 WOMEN TRAFFICKED ALONG THE “AFRICAN ROUTES”. It is estimated that some 50,000 women are trafficked in Africa each year, out of a world total that ranges somewhere between 700,000 and 2 million. Of these women, 3,582 were identified in Ghana between 1998 and 2000; this figure almost doubled to 6,458 between 2001 and 2005. They pass through the “African routes” that start out from Cameroon and traverse Burkina Faso, Mali, Algeria and Morocco, before finally arriving in Spain or Italy. They often travel on foot through the desert and then by boat across the sea. The figures on this traffic were described by Sister HENRIETTE ADINDU , of the Centre for Spiritual Renewal of the diocese of Kumasi, in Ghana. Sister Henriette, together with 32 other nuns throughout the world, belongs to an international Catholic network against people trafficking, launched in Rome last October. “We believe very much in the work of prevention on the victims”, she explained, showing the visual aids used for the awareness-raising campaigns run by the network in Ghana. Sister Henriette outlined the causes of trafficking (poverty, illiteracy…), and described the kind of people involved (not only the traffickers themselves but also tour operators, teachers, families and corrupt policemen), and the methods used to trap women into it. “It’s a very lucrative business because the women are sold not once but several times – she explained -. The girls are promised non-existent jobs and sworn to secrecy through traditional rites, and are provided with false documents and visas. On their long journeys on foot through the desert, when they encounter the remains of other women who had died of privation before them, they begin to realize their miserable fate”. Once in Europe, they are deprived of documents and forced to prostitute themselves on the street. It’s a form of trafficking that also involves children, especially street children; in Kumasi alone there are over 200,000 of them. Sister PERPETUA ESSIEN works in the project for street children run by the archdiocese of Kumasi. It promotes their education, training and social re-integration. “Most of them come from northern Ghana to seek work and help support their families – said Sister Perpetua -. The girls hope to work as domestics and get married young. Instead, very often, they are forced into prostitution or forced labour, from six in the morning to ten o’clock at night”. 300,000 CHILD SOLDIERS. JOSEF SAYER , President of the German humanitarian organization Misereor described the “brutal and violent form of modern slavery” that involves some 300,000 child soldiers throughout the world, especially “in Uganda, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, the Philippines, Colombia and Peru”. “In many cases – he added – these boys and girls are continuously abused and used as secret agents or to clear minefields, or forced to fight in the front line”. Sayer condemned those who “derive profits from the sale of arms used by warlords and child soldiers”, without there being any “effective intervention of the international community or of politicians”.