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Address of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew CEREMONY FOR THE SIGNING OF THE JOINT DECLARATION OF RELIGIOUS LEADERS AGAINST SLAVERY Casina Pio IV, Tuesday, 2 December 2014 Dear friends, It is a special privilege and a sincere pleasure to respond to the invitation of our beloved brothers, His Holiness Pope Francis and His Grace Archbishop Justin of Canterbury as co-founders of the Global Freedom Network, to address your assembly and to support your Universal Declaration against modern slavery. We would like to assure you that we stand with you in solidarity and commitment to eradicate modern expressions of slavery, which are a disgrace to God, a dishonor to humankind, and a degradation of all its innocent victims fashioned in the image and likeness of our heavenly Creator. There are three observations that we would like to bring to your attention about the moral imperative to abolish human trafficking and forced labor: