Int’l Day for Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition

The night of 22 to 23 August 1791, in Santo Domingo (today Haiti and the Dominican Republic) saw the beginning of the uprising that would play a crucial role in the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. Since 1998 the United Nations has marked August 23^rd as the
International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition.

Unfortunately, although the Abolition of the Slave Trade is reputed to have happened, as a result of the uprising and other ensuing events, the sad truth is that International Slavery continues to be prominent, and to ruin the lives of countless people around the world.

Commonly referred to as Human Trafficking, it is the worlds fastest growing global crime and it is estimated that 9.1 million men, women and children are trafficked across borders and within their own country at any given moment in time. People are trafficked for sexual exploitation, forced begging, sacrificial worship, removal of human organs, to be child brides or to bought as labour in sweat shops, circuses, farms and domestic servitude.

Every country is affected by human trafficking, whether as an origin country, a transit country or a destination country. Often a country will be all three, and whilst it is recognized that the majority of trafficked victims come from the poorest countries, we should not sit back and think that we are too ‘respectable’ a country to be involved. Trafficking is an issue in the UK, in the US and throughout the ‘western world’ just as it is in countries of lower incomes.

The following stories are taken from the Stop The Traffik website: www.stopthetraffik.org

Wihini and Sunni – India:

Wihini, aged nine and her brother Sunni, a boy aged seven, lived on Thane train station in Mumbai, India with their parents who were both alcoholics. Wihini and Sunni were regular attendees of the Asha Deep Day Centre, run by Oasis India, where they learnt to read and write and were given the opportunity to play. After attending daily for three months they disappeared. The project staff went to look for them. Wihini and Sunni's father told how a man had come and offered money for them and that he had sold them for the equivalent of $30. That was the last the father and the staff of Asha Deep Day Centre heard of them. In that area of Mumbai every two to three months children disappeared or were kidnapped and sold into prostitution, forced labour, adoption or child sacrifice.

Sophie – UK

"Two years ago everything changed. I was trafficked. I was fooled. I was deceived by a man who said that he loved me. The tragedy is that I believed him. Now I know that love is not shown by forcing me to work on the streets, beating me up, force feeding me and turning me into someone with no mind of my own. I had become like a frightened rabbit. I was terrified that he would kill me. Death too often felt like my only way to escape.

 People are product.
 I was one of them.
 But I am a survivor.

I have a new life but I am haunted by the faces of those who used me, those whom I did not choose, those for whom I was nothing more than a ten-minute thing.

Please join STOP THE TRAFFIK and make a difference to people's lives... ... people like me."

You can listen to Sophie’s story at: www.stopthetraffik.org/real-life-stories

William Wilberforce who is accredited with being one of the key people in bringing about the Abolition of Slavery, once said: ‘You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again that you did not know’.

Having read this blog, I’m afraid to say that you can no longer say you didn’t know about human trafficking and modern-day slavery, if that was your line before. The question is – now that you know, what are you going to do about it? And if the answer is ‘I don’t know’ then can I recommend the following two websites as first points of call:

Stop the Traffik: www.stopthetraffik.org

Unseen UK: www.unseenuk.org