My family and I have just returned from the Christian event Spring Harvest: thousands of people gathered together, great fun, some serious thinking, and tangible evidence that the church is alive and kicking.

A major emphasis within this year's programme was the growing work of Stop the Traffik >>>, an umbrella alliance comprising numerous faith and charity groups campaigning for an end to enforced labour across the world. My Dear Friends letter in July last year drew attention to the formation of Stop the Traffik, and because we are going to be hearing more about this campaign in coming months I thought I would reproduce most of what I said in this month's edition as well......

"A recent international protocol has defined the problem [of human trafficking] in these terms:

'Trafficking in human beings' shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. (Article 3, Palermo Protocol)

Due to the hidden and illegal nature of human trafficking, gathering statistics on the scale of the problem is obviously a complex and difficult task. It is thought that millions remain victims of forced labour worldwide, but the US state department conservatively estimates that 600,000-800,000 men, women and children are trafficked across international borders each year, of which approximately 80 per cent are women and girls, and up to 50% are minors. We are also told that human trafficking is the third largest source of income for organised crime, exceeded only by arms and drugs trafficking.

The good news is that a coalition has recently been formed to do something about the problem. The name of the campaign is STOP THE TRAFFIK and it aims to help stop the sale of people, to see the traffickers prosecuted, and to protect the victims of human trafficking and those vulnerable to this crime. STOP THE TRAFFIK aims to raise awareness, and initiate anti-trafficking projects around the world.

… Please consider supporting campaign events and signing the declaration. STOP THE TRAFFIK can be contacted by post at 1A Kennington Road, London, SE1 0AX, or on-line at www.stopthetraffik.org , where you will also find much more information about campaign objectives and planned events."