PRESS RELEASES

Hundreds gather for inaugural International People’s Lecture on Human Trafficking

Cherie Booth QC

Cherie Booth QC and Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, address special event organised by STOP THE TRAFFIK.

You can download their speeches below:

London, 27 November 2008—Hundreds of campaigners, students and members of civil society were joined this evening by Members of Parliament and the media to hear the first ever International People’s Lecture on Human Trafficking, which was addressed by Cherie Booth QC, the renowned human rights lawyer, Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and Steve Chalke, Founder of STOP THE TRAFFIK.

This unique event was organised by the STOP THE TRAFFIK, a global movement working to combat human trafficking, the fastest growing criminal activity in the world. The United Nations estimates that 2.5 million people are in forced labour as a result of trafficking at any one time in an industry worth over $30 billion a year.

The lecture focused on the steps that can be taken at a community level to combat human trafficking.

Addressing the audience at The Oasis Centre in south London, Cherie Booth QC said, “Trafficking is not something happening somewhere else. It is happening in every community, in our streets, on our doorsteps. However, our response to misery in our midst and the shocking stories we have read must not simply be sympathy for the victim. It must be indignation that such evil still exists.”

STOP THE TRAFFIK Founder and Special Advisor on Community Action against Human Trafficking for UN Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UN.GIFT), Steve Chalke said, “As we mark the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, how tragic it is that millions of people around the world, and in our own communities, are being denied the most basic right of all – their liberty.”

Announcing a new UK-wide initiative aimed at engaging local groups and individuals in taking action on trafficking in their area - Active Communities against Trafficking (ACT) – Mr Chalke said, “Around the world, trafficking presents itself in many forms, but no matter what that form is, or where it takes place, trafficking always has a local face. We can all be a part of combating this hidden crime.”

Mrs Booth and Rev Chalke were joined on stage by Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Mr Costa said “Human trafficking, namely modern slavery, is not some sort of unstoppable force. It is a series of acts that bring vulnerable people into the hands of criminals for the purpose of exploitation. We can stop the recruitment, the transportation and the harbouring of trafficking victims. We can stop the coercion, abduction and deception. We can stop the sexual exploitation, the forced labour, slavery, and the removal of organs. We all have a role to play.”

STOP THE TRAFFIK has organised the International People’s Lecture to support global efforts to raise awareness of the scale of human trafficking, a largely hidden crime, and to empower individuals and communities to take action against it. The organisation is a member of the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking, a global coalition of multilateral agencies and civil society groups.

Ends

Contact

For media enquiries, please contact Jacinta Kent on 07812 140 720 or e-mail press@stopthetraffik.org. Images from the event are available on request.

For more information on STOP THE TRAFFIK activities, please e-mail info@stopthetraffik.org or call the International Office on +44 (0)207 921 4258. Alternatively, visit the website at www.stopthetraffik.org.

Notes for Editors

  1. STOP THE TRAFFIK
    STOP THE TRAFFIK has more than 1000 member organisations in 50 countries and aims to prevent the sale of people, protect the trafficked and prosecute the traffickers.
    Through education, advocacy and events such as the International People’s Lecture, the global movement seeks to raise awareness of the scale of the problem and empower individuals and communities to take action against it.

  2. Active Communities Against Trafficking (ACT)
    STOP THE TRAFFIK believes that trafficking starts in the community and can be stopped by the community—when people ACT things change
    ACT has four component arms: Sex Trafficking & Community Information; Chocolate; Community Issues—Action and Awareness; and Business Travellers against Trafficking.
    For more information on ACT visit www.stopthetraffik.org/getinvolved/act/.

  3. Scale of the problem
    At least one person is trafficked across international borders every minute; over 80% of those are women and 50% of them are children.
    Trafficking-in-people now ranks as the second most lucrative industry in the world, after gun-running.
    The Home Office estimates that there are 4,000 women in the UK at any one time who are victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation.

  4. Support and Legislation
    The Ministry of Justice fund the POPPY Project who provide supported accommodation for up to 35 women at a time who have been trafficked into the UK for sexual exploitation. Other Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) provide approximately another 35 spaces.
    Convictions of traffickers are relatively few. For more information visit www.ukhtc.org and www.pentameter.police.uk. A change in UK law around prostitution as proposed by the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, could increase convictions. This new law will mean a plea of ignorance is no defense for ‘buyers’ facing prosecution for purchasing sex from a ‘seller’ who has been trafficked or is being exploited by a pimp.

[«back]