With human trafficking on the rise globally, the Vatican’s diplomatic mission to the United Nations is highlighting concerns for child victims and refugees – while warning of technological tools used by traffickers to expand their criminal activities. Source: OSV News.
Msgr Marco Formica, counsellor at the Holy See’s permanent observer mission to the UN, spoke at a November 25 high-level meeting on appraising the UN’s Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons.
Adopted in July 2010, the plan promotes international cooperation in tackling modern slavery.
The day prior to Msgr Formica’s address, the UN General Assembly adopted a broad political declaration on the implementation of the global plan of action against human trafficking.
Yet “despite the progress made,” Msgr Formica said, the number of trafficking victims worldwide “is growing”.
The UN’s Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), estimates that as many as 50 million people worldwide “may be subject to various forms” of trafficking, especially sexual exploitation and forced labour.
Ilias Chatzis, acting head of UNODC’s organised crime branch, said the majority of victims are women and girls, who are “overwhelmingly trafficked for sexual exploitation,” he said, noting that children represent “38 per cent of detected cases” of trafficking.
Msgr Formica warned that “the increasing misuse of rapidly evolving technologies also facilitates the recruitment, control and abuse of victims”.
“Criminals are increasingly weaponising AI to enhance their operations,” with the technology representing a “dangerous advancement” that enables traffickers to operate “at an unprecedented scale,” said the US Department of State in its 2025 Trafficking in Persons report.
Traffickers use AI translation tools to lure vulnerable persons, creating “culturally nuanced messages that resonate with victims in their native language,” and offering “unprecedented ability to target potential victims” by analysing their social media data and developing “tailored exploitation strategies,” the report said
Chatbots, along with generative AI images and audio, also permit traffickers to recruit and ensnare victims, the report said.
But AI “can also be a powerful prevention and intervention tool,” the State Department said in its report.
Echoing multiple calls from Pope Leo XIV and Pope Francis, Msgr Formica said it is “crucial to reverse this trend and ensure that technology, including artificial intelligence, is used to serve human dignity, justice and the common good”.
FULL STORY
Children, refugees victimised by AI-fueled human trafficking, says Vatican diplomat (By Gina Christian, OSV News)
