The campaign against slavery and traffiking
 By John Breeze
Exactly 200 years after the official ending of the trans-Atlantic slave trade under William Wilberforce, more people are in slavery today than at any time in the world’s history, a Norwich audience has been told.
At least 12.3 million people are victims of forced labour worldwide. Of these 2.4 million are as a result of human trafficking.
People are trafficked into prostitution, begging, forced labour, military service, domestic service, forced illegal adoption and forced marriage.
These facts were given during a two-hour multimedia presentation at Norwich’s King’s Centre on February 2.
Under the umbrella of the Oasis Trust, the Stop the Traffik presentation came to Norwich as part of an eleven venue tour, courtesy of Marion White, with her extended family and friends.
After a meeting with Steve Chalke of Oasis, Ruth Field (Marion’s sister-in-law) felt the need to visit Mumbai (Bombay) and with five family members went to see for herself the plight of people in the poorer parts of that city and to discover the work being done by Oasis to relieve suffering and restore justice. The experience was life-changing and resulted in the forming of the presentation.
 “I wanted to show the world what was going on,” she told her Norwich audience. “That 200 years after the abolition of the slave trade, many more people were in slavery now than at the height of the slave trade! Yet, that individuals can make a difference.”
The presentation included a series of videos, interspersed with songs from Paul Field’s brilliant musical on the slave trade called Cargo. Paul, with a locally recruited 20-piece choir, sang some of these very moving songs which only highlighted the message of the videos.
One video was particularly moving – it used the words associated with harvest – ‘planted, growing, ripe for harvest, selected, picked, graded, transported, sold and consumed’ and applied them not to fruit but to young girls from Mumbai.
Other videos aroused feelings of pity, sadness and outrage as children told their distressing stories and latest statistics told of how many criminals are turning to human trafficking as it is more profitable yet less dangerous than drug smuggling – it is worth 7 billion dollars a year!
 Yet all is not hopeless, all is not lost. There is light and something can be done. Other agencies including Fair Trade and the United Kingdom Human Trafficking Centre gave evidence of how individuals can change situations.
Compassion spoke of their child sponsorship initiative where, for £18 per month, a child’s life can be changed for ever! There is a building in Mombai previously used as a brothel which is now a safe haven and restoration centre for prostitutes.
The musical Cargo is being presented at Yarmouth on June 9 and Tibenham on June 15 (tbc). Some of these are the full performance with choir, cast and dancers whilst others are solo performances songs and narrative. Check www.paulfield.com/cargo
Stop the Traffik will climax around March 25, Freedom Day, with events worldwide, the day will celebrate the anniversary of the end of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade; yet more importantly the challenge for the future as we work towards freedom from travesties such as people trafficking.
In Norwich the campaign will reach its climax on March 21 with the release of doves and balloons over the city – see separate story.
Pictured top is Marion White at the King's Centre in Norwich.
Celebrations but slavery fight goes on
 Exactly 200 years after the official ending of the British slave trade led by Christian anti-slavery pioneer William Wilberforce, more people are in slavery today than at any time in the world's history. A number of campaigns are both celebrating the anniversary while highlighting the continuing injustices of different forms of slavery. Keith Morris reports.
The British slave trade was abolished by an Act of Parliament on March 25, 1807, and the bi-centenary is being marked around the world on March 25, 2007.
But today at least 12.3 million people are estimated to be victims of forced labour worldwide. Of these, 2.4 million are as a result of human trafficking. People are still trafficked into prostitution, begging, forced labour, military service, domestic service, forced illegal adoption and forced marriage.
Today, it is estimated as many women are trafficked in Europe for sex as slaves were shipped across the Atlantic at the end of the eighteenth century.
 The Stop the Traffik anti-slavery campaign will reach its climax in Norwich on March 21 with the release of doves and balloons over the city.
At 12 noon on the steps of City Hall the Sheriff of Norwich will release 200 balloons to mark 200 years since the victory of William Wilberfoce in abolishing the slave trade. The occasion will be led by Graham Thompson, Chair of the Methodist District, with music from the Salvation Army band.
At 7.30pm on March 21 in St Peter Mancroft Church, Dr Carrie Pemberton, Director of Chaste, will expose today's slave trade. She will be joined by Paul Valentin, the International Director of Christian Aid, who will give a worldwide picture of the trafficking scourge.
The event is backed by Transforming Norwich and Churches Together in Norfolk, and will feature music from the Norwich Youth for Christ band and alternative worship from Ambient Wonder.
Rose Anne, who runs a Christian Aid funded project in Haiti to help people caught in trafficking, will also be at the evening meeting.
For more details contact: Eldred Willey, Christian Aid 07813 045947.
 Amazing Grace
The film Amazing Grace about the life of antislavery pioneer William Wilberforce opens in cinemas across the country on March 23.
The film stars Ioan Gruffudd, Albert Finney, Michael Gambon, Rufus Sewell, Ciaran Hinds and Youssou N'Dour.
Elected to the House of Commons at the age of 21, and on his way to a successful political career, Wilberforce, over the course of two decades, took on the English establishment and persuaded those in power to end the inhumane trade of slavery.
 Not for Sale Sunday/ Chaste
Not for Sale Sunday on May 20 is another way to continue the fight against modern-day slavery, especially the enslavement in trafficked women and girls for sexual exploitation in massage parlours, brothels and 'secured' houses across the UK today.
It is estimated that over 4,000 women are trafficked for prostituted sex into the UK each year.
Not for Sale Sunday is a special initiative of Churches Alert to Sex Trafficking across Europe (Chaste).
Chaste is working in collaboration with other key partners to develop the response of members of all denominations to widespread sexual exploitation in our midst.
Full information and resource are available at:
Making Our Mark
Nationally the Making our Mark Walk of Witness, takes place in London on Saturday March 24, led by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York.
It will begin at 12.15 in Whitehall Place and conclude with an act of worship in Kennington Park beginning around 2.15 pm. Its three themes are Remembrance; Repentance and Restoration.
Set All Free
Set All Free aims to remember the past and apply its lessons to tackle the legacies of Transatlantic slavery and its modern day equivalent.
Set All Free has been set up by Churches Together in England as a collaboration between those who are happy to work with a Christian ethos on the relevance of the bicentenary.
Pictured are scenes from the film Amazing Grace, set for release in the UK on March 23.
Norwich demo attacks modern slave trade
 As doves and balloons were released above Norwich City Hall (March 21) to mark 200 years after the official ending of the British slave trade, present-day forms of slavery in Norfolk and around the world were denounced.
It was the local climax of the Stop the Traffik anti-slavery campaign.
John Drake, Sheriff of Norwich and chief executive of YMCA Norfolk, said: “Slavery was declared illegal in the British Empire 200 years ago thanks to the efforts of men like William Wilberforce and Norfolk man Thomas Buxton.
“We have a proud history of social reformers in Norfolk. People like Elizabeth Fry, Jeremiah Colman and Thomas Buxton,” said John.
“But exploitation of people still exists today. It may be the pimp who feeds heroin to women to keep them enslaved or the illegal gangmaster who coerces people through fear to work for him for very low wages. It is often subtle, as if it were blatant we would be repulsed and act on it.
“If Wilberforce were alive today he would be appalled. We must make sure that all forms of exploitation are eradicated in our county and across the world.”
 Rev Andrew Platt, county ecumenical officer and executive officer of Norfolk & Waveney Churches Together, who helped organise the event with Christian Aid and Transforming Norwich, said: “We are commemorating the abolition of the slave trade 200 years ago, but the reality is that slavery continues today.
“Millions of men, women and children around the world are forced to lead lives as slaves. Although this exploitation is often not called slavery, the conditions are the same. People are sold like objects, forced to work for little or no pay and are at the mercy of their employers.”
The demonstration on the steps of Norwich City Hall was attended by over 100 people and by Christian Aid anti-slavery campaigner Rose-Anne Auguste from Haiti where there are over 300,000 child slaves, many is the sex industry.
Later in the day at St Peter Mancroft Church, Dr Carrie Pemberton, Director of Chaste, was due to be joined by Paul Valentin, the International Director of Christian Aid, to give a worldwide picture of the trafficking scourge.
For more details of the campaign contact: Eldred Willey, Christian Aid 07813 045947.
Pictured above are the doves and 200 balloons being released at Norwich City Hall as part of the Stop The Traffik campaign.
Norwich says Stop the Traffik
 On 21 March the Stop the Traffik campaign will reach its climax in Norwich with the release of doves and balloons over the city. The campaign aims to end the trade in human beings, which is now happening on a larger scale than in the days of William Wilberforce.
At 12 noon on the steps of City Hall the Sheriff of Norwich will release 200 balloons to mark 200 years since the victory of Wilberforce in abolishing the slave trade. The occasion will be led by Graham Thompson, Chair of the Methodist District, with music from the Salvation Army band.
Today as many women are trafficked in Europe for sex as slaves were shipped across the Atlantic at the end of the eighteenth century. At 7.30pm on 21 March in St Peter Mancroft Church, Dr Carrie Pemberton, Director of Chaste, will lead an event to create a thumbprint petition for women trafficked for sex.
The events are supported by Churches Together in Norfolk and Transforming Norwich, and will feature music from the Norwich Youth for Christ band and alternative worship from Ambient Wonder. More information about both events is available from the Norwich Christian Aid office on 01603 620051.
Rose Anne, who runs a Christian Aid funded project in Haiti to help people caught in trafficking, will also be at the evening meeting. Below is the story of one person she has helped.
In the hands of the traffickers
 David La Fortune was at home with his wife and eight children when a big truck drove into the village. Soldiers jumped out and surrounded his house. "They got all of us," said David. "We didn't have a chance to take anything."
The family was one of hundreds which pay human traffickers to guide them on the dangerous journey from Haiti to the Dominican Republic.
David was lucky. Some people are shot as they try to cross the border. Many are robbed and abandoned by their traffickers. After they arrive, some men are rounded up while cutting cane, and their wives do not know what has happened to them.
At least David's family was together as the soldiers bundled them into the truck, drove them to the border, and dumped them destitute back in Haiti.
In spite of the risks, thousands still make the dangerous journey to escape the desperate poverty and soaring unemployment of their home country.
Christian Aid funds an organisation called GARR, which rescues threatened Haitians in the border area. Following a murder in the Dominican Republic, it has also begun human rights work in that country.
Learn more about anti-trafficking work by coming to hear Dr Pemberton and Paul Valentin on 21st March.
Churches aim to stop human trafficking
 Churches in Norfolk are adding their voice to a campaign to stop trafficking in human beings, now the fastest-growing form of international crime.
Human beings are the most beautiful thing God has created, and thousands are now being turned into commodities, and destroyed in the process. Christians have a long tradition of standing in the breach to hold back evil, and Churches in Norfolk have decided that now is the time.
Regional and county leaders of the Salvation Army and Quakers, of the Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, Baptist and URC Churches have decided to work towards a major campaign event in Norwich on 21 March 2007. This is timed to fall just a few days before the second centenary of the abolition of slavery.
It was on 25 March 1807 that William Wilberforce finally won his long battle to outlaw the transatlantic slave trade. Yet now over half a million human beings are sold each year across international borders, mostly for prostitution or forced labour. Slavery is a worse scourge today than it was in the days of Wilberforce.
A recent report suggests that trade in human beings has even overtaken trade in illegal drugs, as drug dealers switch to a safer form of income. Human trafficking now earns criminals some seven billion dollars a year, and is second only to the trade in illegal arms.
Trafficking in East Anglia is not as extensive as in some parts of Britain, but it is present. Police are involved in two drives to curtail it - Operation Reflex and Operation Pentameter. Around 80% of prostitutes working in the UK are now thought to have been trafficked.
The Stop the Traffik campaign was launched at the European Parliament in March by Steve Chalke, founder of the Oasis Trust. At Easter Christian singer Daniel Bedingfield presented it to young people at Spring Harvest.
The campaign is not just working for political change, but also building on the practical work already being done in many countries. Around 200 oganisations, including Christian Aid, Tearfund, World Vision and the World Evangelical Alliance, have joined the coalition.
It will soon be possible to buy £1 freedom keys, profits from which can be donated back to the main campaign or to specific chosen projects such as safe houses for women rescued from trafficking.
To learn more about the national campaign, click here to link with the official Stop the Traffik website. This includes the Stop the Traffik declaration, which you can print off and sign.
Would you like to be involved in the campaign? Could you collect declarations or sell keys in your local church? Do you have contact with women or children caught up in trafficking? To link up with the local campaign, or to share ideas about what you are doing, please contact Eldred Willey at the Norwich Christian Aid office on 01603 620051, e-mail ewilley@christian-aid.org
Christian Aid funds a number of anti-trafficking projects in the Third World. In south Asia it is rescuing children caught in trafficking and educating parents about the dangers. One such child is Tanu Khatin, from Thailand.
Tanu was abducted and taken to Mumbai’s red light district when she was eleven. For two years she was moved from brothel to brothel as she tried to resist abuse. She often tried to run away but failed and was tortured. As a result she eventually acquiesced. Finally during a police raid she was taken to a remand centre, and three years ago was referred to Christian Aid's partner Sanlaap. She has been living at one of their shelters since then.
She says: “What I have been through has been painful and traumatic. I wouldn’t wish any girl to suffer as I did. I want people to hear and know of the abuse that girls like me have been subjected to….I am HIV positive and I came back from the jaws of death…Since I came to Sanlaap I have received treatment, and have eaten properly, unlike in the remand centre where I was treated badly. I thought I was in such a bad condition that no-one wanted to touch me”.
The photo above shows Gita, who was also rescued from prositution, and is now at a shelter run by Sanlaap.
Story by Eldred Willey
'Axe woman' to join slavery celebrations
 Rose-Anne Auguste, a human rights campaigner from Haiti, will play a leading role as Norfolk Christians celebrate Freedom Day, the two-hundredth anniversary of the ending of the slave trade.
Rose-Anne will be speaking at the Stop the Traffik event at St Peter Mancroft church, 7.30pm on Wednesday 21st March. She will join Dr Carrie Pemberton, director of Chaste, and a representative of the police. The Norwich Youth for Christ band, Ambient Wonder, and Peter McAllen will lead the evening's worship.
Rose-Anne made a name for herself during the Duvalier coup of 1991, when soldiers murdered patients in the country's only trauma facility. After the doctors ran away, she braved military fire to enter the hospital, breaking down doors with an axe and smashing open medicine cabinets. Then she ran the facility for several days before soldiers re-occupied it, forcing her to go into hiding from house to house.
She subsequently won the Reebok Human Rights Award, was commended by President Jimmy Carter, and founded a health clinic which has since cared for around 100,000 women.
Rose-Anne will also join a media event at City Hall at 12 noon on 21st March, with the Sheriff of the city, John Drake. A professional dove release company, Wings for Love, will be bringing around 25 birds, which the Sheriff will release as a symbol of trafficked women being liberated from sexual slavery.
 You can also hear Rose-Anne during Stop the Traffik events at:
The Christian Community Centre, Watton, at 7.30pm Thursday 15th March
Stalham Baptist Church at 7.30pm on Saturday 17th March
The Sovereign Centre in Downham Market, 10.30am on Sunday 18th March
The New Hope Christian Centre in Norwich, 5pm on Sunday 18th March (the African Congregation)
Wells-next-the-Sea Methodist Church at 7.30pm on Monday 19th March.
For details, and directions to find these events, please ring the
Christian Aid office on 01603 620051.
Haiti was a centre of slavery during the days of William Wilberforce and remains so today. Around 300,000 children serve as rest-avecs or domestic slaves, and many people are trafficked into the neighbouring Dominican Republic or to the United States.
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