Stop the Traffik

Picture a dank and cold room, the concrete walls are lined with the huddled figures of young girls. The smell of fear hangs in the air and an occasional glimpse of a pair of wide eyes tell a story too horrific to imagine. Their journey involves a kidnap, long periods of time in transit, no hope of ever being paid and certainly no idea of ever being free of their owner. It could be a scene from the middle of the last millenia, or even 150 years ago. The scary truth is that this is the experience of at least 400,000 women each year. Slavery and human trafik is happening as I type.

• 20 million people are held in bonded labour around the world
• 80 million children are engaged in work injurious to their health and development
• profits from the trafficking of people are US $7 billion a year
• of the 600,000 to 800,000 men, women, and children trafficked across international borders each year, approximately 80 per cent are women and girls, and up to 50 per cent are minors.

It is hard to feel a part of the loop, being a little island in the pacific. But we must always remember that as citizens of the globe we form a vital link in every unjust situation wherever it's location. Stop the traffik has heaps more information on it's website about the ways you can campaign against the evils of human traffiking.