When I was at school, we were taught about how slavery was abolished in Britain and the USA. This was obviously a good thing.
It came as a shock to find out, some years ago now, that there are more slaves in the world than ever before.
The awful truth
People trafficking is the coercive trade of human beings to provide cheap or free labour – effectively slavery. It is happening around the world, and leaves millions of powerless people in misery.
There are estimated to be somewhere between 20 & 30 million slaves in the world today (the figure currently being quoted is 27 million). I have posted about this before, and you can find more details at at People shouldn’t be bought and sold and The bitter truth about chocolate.
There are movements you can support
Stop the Traffik
Stop the Traffik is a coalition of organisations and individuals, set up about 6 years ago, to fight human trafficking. Its website can give you ideas on things you can do to help.
End it
Louis Giglio and others have launched the “End it” campaign on Facebook and its own website, and a much publicised recent Shine a Light on Slavery Day. I’m not sure what “End it” is planning to do, but it has raised millions of dollars and argues: “Nothing happens just because we are aware of modern–day slavery, but nothing will EVER happen until we are.”.
Chocolate and coffee
One practical thing most of us can do is avoid buying chocolate and coffee that is not certified as “traffick-free” via Fair Trade or other certification system. You can easily search for Fair Trade chocolate and coffee in your area.
Do something!
Let’s start to seek out Fair Trade alternatives, they don’t cost much more, and the extra costs is to stop the slavery. If we had to DO the flogging of the enslaved child before we could have our chocolate or coffee, we’d never eat or drink “Unfair Trade” again.
Photo: End it.