Pope: Prostitution is a new form of slavery, it is a crime against humanity

Pope Francis condemned phenomena he called "new forms of slavery", as the UN marks the Day of Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, reports the Patria News Agency.

"New forms of slavery such as human trafficking and organ trafficking, forced labor and prostitution are real crimes against humanity", Pope Francis said on Twitter.

The Pope, the head of the world's 1.2 billion Catholic faithful, sent the message at a time when the UN is marking the Day of Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition.

The day is marked on August 23 because on that day in 1781, a slave revolt began in Haiti, which ended with the abolition of slavery and the country's independence from France in 1804. At the beginning of August, the Pope unexpectedly visited the premises of Caritas in Rome, which had received a woman rescued from a forced prostitution ring, meeting with 20 prostitutes, writes Index.