“We must mobilize and act now. On the financial front, we must act on a crisis footing. We must use all our institutional power and leverage. Regulators and law-makers must do all they can to open up new opportunities offered by social business," he said.
Prof Yunus made the remarks while addressing report launching ceremony in New York recently on the sidelines of the 74th UNGA.
Final Report of the Financial Sector Commission on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking was formally released in the UN as an important UN event, said Yunus Centre on Monday.
This Commission was set up during the UN General Assembly meeting of the previous year at the initiative of Government of Liechtenstein and joined by the Governments of Australia, the Netherlands, and the United Nations University Centre for Policy Research.
The Commission was formed to put the financial sector at the heart of global efforts to end modern slavery and human trafficking.
Target 8.7 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals requires working to end modern slavery and human trafficking by 2030.
Today 10,000 people become victims of modern slavery and human trafficking everyday.
The Chair of the Commission was Fiona Reynolds, CEO of the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment which represents over $80 trillion of assets under its management.
The Prime Minister of Liechtenstein, Adrian Hasler, was the Convenor of the Commission.
Co-convenors were the Foreign Minister of Australia Senator Marise Payne, Foreign Minister of the Netherlands Stef Blok and Prof Muhammad Yunus.
The Commission was formed with 25 commissioners from financial sector leaders.
The Commission held its meetings in Liechtenstein , Sydney, New York and Amsterdam during the past one year to finalize its report.
Prof Yunus, the Co-Convenor of the Commission, in his remarks pointed out that it is not a market failure which deprived almost half the population of the world unreached by financial services, it is clearly a system failure.
He said existing financial institutions are not built to reach the low income men and women. "World needs to create Banks for the Poor, particularly with social business principles, to fill that gap."
He emphasized that aiming at financial inclusion is not enough, our aim should be to achieve “zero financial exclusion”.