- Home
- About us
- Visas and migration
- Travelling to Australia
- Services for Australians
- Doing business with Australia
- Study in Australia
- About Australia
- Australia-The Holy See relationship
CLOSURE OF EMBASSY - FRIDAY 18 MAY - 12:30-17:00
The Australian Embassy to the Holy See will be closed for technical reasons on
Friday 18 May from 12.30 pm until closing time at 5.00 pm
The Embassy will reopen as normal on Monday 21 May at 8.30 am
International Women’s Day : “Slavery still exists in 2012”
For the 101st anniversary of International Women's day, the Australian embassy to the Holy See held a seminar at its chancery on the issue of people trafficking.
The principal speaker was Sister Eugenia Bonetti, the Director of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Office of the Italian Union of Major Superiors(USMI), who spoke of her experience in assisting women victims of sex trafficking in Italy and Africa.
Sr Eugenia declared that “we need to acknowledge that slavery still exists in the year 2012 and that the majority of its victims are women and children who do not choose to become prostitutes, but are forced into it by a variety of different circumstances.” She spoke of the physical risks facing women on the street and the dangers they face in trying to break free from sex trafficking rings.In 2000, Sr Eugenia was appointed by USMI to establish a counter-trafficking office in Rome to assist, protect and reintegrate victims of human trafficking who were seeking help. In Italy, Sr Eugenia noted that through USMI, 250 sisters from different congregations, work to help hundreds of victims of people-trafficking to rebuild their lives. Sr Eugenia is the author of two books on the subject of women and people trafficking. Her presentation focussed on efforts to help women in escaping trafficking networks and, where necessary, assistance in reintegrating them back into their home communities. She has also been instrumental in founding a shelter in Benin City for those victims either returning voluntarily or forcefully repatriated to Nigeria from Italy. The event at the Australian Embassy was well attended by an audience of female representatives from the Vatican, the Vatican diplomatic corps, Caritas Internationalis and various NGOs.
Food Insecurity seminar
In October, the Australian Embassy to the Holy See held a Conference on Food Security for an audience of Vatican officials, NGO representatives and diplomats accredited to the Vatican and to the FAO.
Guest speakers were Mr Julian Cribb, former CSRIO (Australia’s premier scientific research organisation) official and author of "The Coming Famine: The Global Food Crisis" and Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, head of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
Speech by Mons. Sanchez Sorondo
In introducing the speakers, Ambassador to the Holy See at that time, Mr Tim Fischer, noted the importance Australia gave to this issue and referred to the speech of 29 September by then Foreign Minister, Mr Rudd, on the current challenges to global food security (http://www.foreignminister.gov.au/speeches/2011/kr_sp_110929.html ).
Speeches, notes and comments by the Ambassador:
Useful information about visiting the Holy See:
Visiting the Vatican - general information on booking various Vatican tours and tickets for events presided by the Pope
Past News Items - items previously published on the front page
