Fight the slave trade

On 25 March 1807, Lord Grenville made an impassioned speech to the House of Lords against the continuance of the slave trade, arguing that trading people was "contrary to the principles of justice, humanity and sound policy" and criticising the Lords for not having "abolished the trade long ago". The Abolition of the Slave Trade Bill was passed on that day, though it wasn’t until 1833 that the Slavery Abolition Act was adopted.

Nearly two centuries later, on 23 April 2006, the United Nations said that efforts to fight "the global problem of human trafficking" were being hampered because no-one knows how many people were being sold into modern-day slavery.

But what they do know is this: right now 127 countries (mainly in Africa and Eastern Europe) are sending new victims to 137 countries around the world.

According to the United Nations’ Office on Drugs and Crime, more than three quarters of trafficking cases involve women and one third involve children. The vast majority (87 per cent) are being sent into sexual exploitation.

While the nature of slavery has changed, the problem still faces us today as much as it did in William Wilberforce’s day. Wilberforce and his evangelical contemporaries were motivated by the desire to see all people live in freedom. But slavery was big business 200 years ago. And it still is today. Statistics show that human trafficking is the third largest source of income for organised crime, exceeded only by drugs and arms dealing.

The United Nations High Commission for Human Rights says, "The word ‘slavery’ today covers a variety of human rights violations. In addition to traditional slavery and the slave trade, these abuses include the sale of children, child prostitution, child pornography, the exploitation of child labour, the sexual mutilation of female children, the use of children in armed conflicts, debt bondage, the traffic in persons and in the sale of human organs, the exploitation of prostitution and certain practices under apartheid and colonial regimes."

On 7 May this year, 28 people were arrested in Kent after a series of raids in brothels across the county. Seven suspected victims of sex trafficking were found. Two Britons were given police bail on human trafficking and prostitution charges, while five Thais and two Malaysians were served with extradition papers. Officers in Kent now believe that at least £1.5 million is spent each week in the county’s brothels, and that every year almost 1,500 women are brought into the UK and forced into prostitution.

A Christian response

Both Church and State are responding to this crisis. The Home Office last month launched a national 24-hour outreach service for the victims of human sex trafficking. This move was welcomed by the Bishop of Southwark, Rt Rev Tom Butler, who said, "Trafficking, whether for sexual exploitation, forced labour or removal of organs, treats human beings abusively and oppressively as a means to the enrichment and gratification of others. It is totally contrary to Christian teaching and deserves the same unremitting opposition as other forms of slavery."

Singer-songwriter Daniel Bedingfield helps launch Stop the Traffik

Rev Steve Chalke, founder of Oasis, is so opposed to the current slave trade that he has set up a campaign to "demand freedom for every human caught in trafficking around the world". Stop The Traffik has received the backing of other Christian groups including Tearfund, Christian Aid, World Vision, Spring Harvest and the Church of England. And celebrities are also backing the cause, including Richard Branson, Daniel Bedingfield, Anita Roddick and William Hague.

Chalke said, "Stop the Traffik’s goal is to build a broad global coalition of schools, charities, community groups, clubs, faith groups and businesses. We want to draw attention to organisations already working in the field of human trafficking and compliment their efforts through creating a bigger public platform than any of us could individually."

One aspect of the campaign is the Stop the Traffik Declaration, which it is hoped will be signed by millions of people around the world. It will be delivered to the Secretary General of the United Nations as well as heads of state next year.

And plans are afoot to mark the 200th anniversary of abolition (25 March 2007) with a Freedom Day. "It’s not so much a celebration of history as a drawing of inspiration from the champions of the past for the challenge of the future," says Chalke, "as we fight for freedom from the bondage of trafficking for every human being."

Plans are underway to hold music festivals in London and New York on 25 March next year, but it is hoped that thousands of local churches and schools will run their own special days, showing that evangelicals’ opposition to slavery has not wavered in the last 200 years, and that we are ready to fight for its abolition all over again.

Hazel Southam