{"id":416329,"date":"2025-10-10T19:49:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T19:49:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2025\/10\/10\/gfn-calls-for-renewed-commitment-to-ending-modern-slavery\/"},"modified":"2025-10-10T19:49:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T19:49:06","slug":"gfn-calls-for-renewed-commitment-to-ending-modern-slavery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2025\/10\/10\/gfn-calls-for-renewed-commitment-to-ending-modern-slavery\/","title":{"rendered":"GFN Calls For Renewed Commitment To Ending Modern Slavery"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong><em>Franca Pellegrini<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Head of the Global Freedom Network (GFN), Franca Pellegrini, has called for renewed global commitment to ending modern slavery, describing the challenge as \u201cimmense but surmountable through faith, unity, and action.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at the GFN\u2019s tenth anniversary gathering in Accra, Ms. Pellegrini expressed both gratitude for the network\u2019s achievements and urgency about the ongoing fight. She recalled the GFN\u2019s founding in December 2014, when twelve global religious leaders from Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, and Buddhism signed a historic declaration at the Vatican to eradicate modern slavery within a generation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat moment was not just symbolic,\u201d she said. \u201cIt signalled that slavery is a moral crisis \u2014 and that faith communities have a unique role in confronting it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Pellegrini explained that over the past decade, GFN has mobilised faith leaders worldwide, equipped communities to recognise and respond to slavery, and championed survivor-led initiatives that ensure lived experiences inform policy and action. The organisation has also fostered strong partnership<strong>s <\/strong>among faith communities, governments, and civil society to strengthen prevention and promote ethical practices.<\/p>\n<p>She warned that despite these successes, modern slavery persists, with more than 50 million people worldwide trapped in various forms of exploitation, from forced labour to domestic servitude and child marriage, and asked stakeholders to take decisive steps towards ending this menace.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSlavery continues to evolve adapting to conflict, climate change, migration, and inequality. Our response must match its scale and complexity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEnding modern slavery is the work of all of us together. Faith leaders, use your pulpits as platforms for freedom. Governments, let your policies uphold dignity. Civil society, continue to reach the marginalised. Survivors, your leadership is essential.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe road ahead is long, but our unity makes it possible. May our faith guide us, our unity give us strength, and our action bring freedom, dignity, and justice to all,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>The founding executive director of the Sanneh Institute, Dr. John Azumah, drew links between slavery and religion, and admitted that there were many instances where religious leaders used scriptures to justify the act.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFaith leaders in many different ways have been complicit in using very oppressive religious texts to justify slavery; religion was always corrupted to justify the practice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He also urged the government to prioritise the passage of a bill aimed at addressing witchcraft accusations, highlighting that the recent change in parliament has hindered the progress of this important legislation, which was close to being approved.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have campaigned along with faith leaders in this room and other organisations for the last four years to really get the government to pass a bill against witchcraft accusations. We managed to get a bill passed in 2023 by Ghana\u2019s parliament, but unfortunately, the bill was not signed into law. We\u2019re praying that the current government will take responsibility and do something about this kind of danger to our vulnerable,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p><strong>By Vera Owusu Sarpong<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 2 -->\n\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Franca Pellegrini \u00a0 The Head of the Global Freedom Network (GFN), Franca Pellegrini, has called for renewed global commitment to ending modern slavery, describing the challenge as \u201cimmense but surmountable through faith, unity, and action.\u201d Speaking at the GFN\u2019s tenth anniversary gathering in Accra, Ms. Pellegrini expressed both gratitude for the network\u2019s achievements and urgency [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":416330,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-416329","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-local-news"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - 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