Α united front against all forms of human trafficking is being prepared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Church.
The coordination effort is credited to Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Markos Bolaris who has sent letters to every Metropolis of Greece, and other religious faiths in our country, asking for their cooperation on the crucial issue of preventing human trafficking and supporting and protecting the victims of this criminal phenomenon.
As Mr. Bolaris explained to ANA-MPA, the Metropolises of Church “protect victimized people who have suffered injustice and thus they can assist us so as to raise public awareness and achieve two main goals: Firstly, to eliminate the demand for services and products handed by the victims of modern slavery and, secondly, to enhance the victim tracing network run by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, assisted by the Church”.
According to ANA-MPA, the Deputy Minister’s plan is the broader and more effective enhancement of the National Action Plan conducted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Office of the National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings. This Action Plan applies the political and legal commitments that Greece is bound to adjust to, according to verified international conventions.
For the Deputy Minister, “The Circular of the Great and Holy Synod that met in Crete, according to which the Orthodox Church records the tragedy of human trafficking among the modern challenges and violent phenomena that require collective action, was of highest importance and prompted our cooperation proposal to the Church of Greece”.
Furthermore, according to Mr. Bolaris, of equal importance was the International Forum organized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate on February, 2019, in Constantinople for combating modern slavery.
In conclusion, as Mr. Bolaris emphasized to ANA-MPA, “The contribution of the Church is and shall continue to be essential for the ongoing cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Rapporteur so as to save the life of our fellow human beings that fall prey to traffickers”.