'We're talking about slavery': John Kerry and Pope Francis on global crisis

Human trafficking is a $150 billion industry.

The United States government released its annual human trafficking report on Thursday evening, revealing the realities of a world-wide humanitarian crisis.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - "When we talk about human trafficking, we're talking about slavery. Modern-day slavery, that still today claims more than 20 million victims on any given time," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry stated.

"And all 20 million are people, just like everybody here. They have names. They have or had families, in many cases. And they are enforced to endure a hell - a living hell - in modern times that no human being should ever have to experience.

"In some places, particularly where violent extremists are able to find a contemporary safe haven, and I might add a temporary safe haven, the atrocities are both rampant and overt."

Kerry then described how a 34-year-old survivor attempted to keep terrorists from repeatedly raping a 12-year-old girl but was told, "no, she's not a little girl. She's a slave."

The Secretary of state continued, explaining: "Modern slavery doesn't happen only in war zones. It exists in areas of both darkness and plain sight of people all over the world. Even at sea."

Kerry stated we can all become more effective in the fight against human trafficking by working with experts - experts who were once enslaved themselves.

In December 2015, the Obama administration gave survivors access to work with the United States to give first-hand knowledge of the methods in which traffickers capture and take advantage of their prey.

There are thousands of stories of people lured into slavery by the promise of a better life, an education, money or simple escape from a war-torn country or bad home environment.

The 2016 report examined 188 governments' efforts to fight modern-day slavery and assigned each country a tier based on the seriousness of their trafficking problem and how well the government responded to it.

Tier 1 countries meet the "minimum standards" to fight trafficking by prohibiting the act and sufficiently punishing offenders.

Tier 2 countries are on the "Watch List," meaning those countries are "making significant efforts" to fight trafficking but require surveillance due to the seriousness of the problems.

Tier 3 countries are on the lower tier. They fail to meet the U.S. government's trafficking standards and are not fighting enough to prevent trafficking. These countries include Burma, Uzbekistan, Djibouti, Haiti, Suriname, Papua and Thailand.

The $150 billion industry includes everything from child soldiers to sex slaves.

Critics were upset to learn the United States removed Thailand from its human trafficking blacklist on Thursday, specifically because the nation's seafood industry thrives on slavery.

Despite the questionable move, the United States claims it removed Thailand from the blacklist due to the country's increase of prosecutions and convictions of traffickers.

Myanmar, Thailand's neighbor, continues to enlist children into the armed forces and was demoted to tier 3, leaving it at Obama's mercy.

The United States now holds the power to enact sanctions over tier 3 nations, though the U.S. is not expected to do so based on national security interests, as reported by the Inquirer.

The Catholic News Agency reported several church groups in Thailand have been helping the government improve the seafood slavery issue.

Pope Francis was also acknowledged from Susan Coppedge, the Ambassador-at-Large of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons.

Coppedge praised the Vatican's human trafficking summit meeting, where they "explored the need for victim-supported services instead of punishments for crimes committed under duress."

She stated: "While Pope Francis has a unique ability to gather and rally diverse groups, leaders across communities - businesses, governments, and NGOs - can likewise demonstrate the power of collaboration in fighting the scourge of modern slavery."

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