G20 Interfaith Forum's 'Faith in Action': 13 Sessions Take On Trafficking, Hunger and Mental Health as Forum Closes in Salt Lake City With Handover to the U.K.
Salt Lake City — Faith leaders, policymakers and practitioners at the G20 Interfaith Forum (IF20) took on human trafficking, hunger, mental health, pandemic preparedness and more in 13 concurrent "Faith in Action" sessions on October 17, according to a release issued by the Forum via EIN Presswire. After the sessions, participants worked side by side with volunteers and students at a service project organized by the Turtle Shelter Project, supporting Utahns experiencing homelessness.
In a session on preventing human trafficking and modern slavery, panelists stressed that prevention begins with education and strong families, noting that much trafficking happens within families. They pointed to a forthcoming international standard, ISO 37200, that will help organizations prevent, identify, mitigate, remediate and report trafficking and forced-labor risks. The Forum is again calling on G20 nations to fund and coordinate the fight against a criminal trade it estimates generates $356 billion a year. "Prevention begins long before trafficking occurs. And it can begin as early as preschool age," said Katie Boller Gosewisch, executive director of the Alliance to End Human Trafficking. "We do not need to wait until adolescence to teach the concepts that help protect children."
On hunger, the Rev. Dr. David Beckmann, president emeritus of Bread for the World, said: "There are lots of problems in the world we can't solve, but we don't have to have millions of kids in America who don't eat enough. This is doable."
This year's Forum, themed "Resilient Hope, Shared Future," opened on October 15 at the Historic Tabernacle on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, continued with plenary and breakout sessions at the University of Utah on October 16-17, and closed Saturday at the Cathedral of the Madeleine with a handover to the organizers of next year's Forum in the United Kingdom. The Forum's recommendations will go to the G20 Leaders' Summit in Miami on December 14-15. (GSM, from the Forum's release via EIN Presswire)
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 盐湖城圣玛德琳大教堂（论坛闭幕地）内景资料图。图：Farragutful，Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 4.0（经 Commons API 实查）。Interior file photo of the Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City, where the Forum closed. Photo: Farragutful, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (verified via Commons API).
- 2026-10-15G20 Interfaith Forum Opens in the United States for the First Time as Leaders of Seven Faith Traditions Share One Stage in Salt Lake City
- 2026-10-17Feature | Faith Leaders of Seven Traditions Gather in Salt Lake City for G20 Interfaith Forum
- 2026-10-17Gov. Cox and Martin Luther King III Kick Off G20 Interfaith Forum at University of Utah
- 2026-10-19G20 Interfaith Forum's 'Faith in Action': 13 Sessions Take On Trafficking, Hunger and Mental Health as Forum Closes in Salt Lake City With Handover to the U.K.This story
- 2026-10-19Elder Gong Proposes a 'Humanity's First Exam' for SI at the G20 Interfaith Forum: A Moral Benchmark for Super Intelligence
