Let My People Go

Today is Anti-Slavery Day. Now you might think that to have a day dedicated to opposing slavery is meaningless in a country where slavery was abolished in 1833, but tragically slavery is alive and well in this country and overseas.Last weekend I heard two talks in very different contexts about slavery in India.

The first was the testimony given by a young woman called Pranitha Timothy at the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit. Pranitha spoke about her ministry with the International Justice Mission working to free slaves in India. Her story about the dangers in freeing a group of families held captive in a rice mill was chilling, as she recalled the collusion of the mill owners, the local community and the local authorities. These vested interests would rather have murdered those being held in captivity and those seeking to free them, than see them released.

The second talk, or series of talks, was from our church CMS link partners working in northern India. The nature of their work means that I cannot be specific about their location or their names, however, the focus of their ministry is on prevention and freeing children caught up in the slave trade. Again, the range of vested interests opposing their ministry means that they are working in very challenging situations.

It is easy to conceive of slavery taking place in other countries, harder to accept it still goes on in our own. Yet, today a report from the Inter-Departmental Ministerial Group on human trafficking makes appalling reading. Last year 712 adults and 234 children were referred to the National Referral Mechanism as potential victims. The Child Exploitation and Online Prevention Centre estimates that there are about 300 children trafficked each year in the United Kingdom. The report claims that the first cases of trafficking for organ harvesting have now taken place. Yes, people trafficked into this country so that parts of their bodies can be taken and sold to someone else.

So what will you do on Anti-Slavery Day? Pretend it doesn’t happen? Dismiss it as something going on in the far flung corners of our globe? Or join in opposing slavery by supporting the work of the agencies I’ve mentioned or other organisations involved in the anti-slavery movement like Stop The Traffick?

Valentine spoof?

I’ve received one of those lovely proposals of help from a well known finance organisation. They are offering to help me choose a Valentine’s present for my wife. They’d just better hope that my darling wife hasn’t seen the message they sent me.

Dear……,
Women can be complicated creatures and deciding what to give them for Valentine’s Day can be a real struggle. When is lingerie a bad idea? What if you don’t know her size? How can you make chocolates and flowers personal? What about something really special? We’ve got titillating tips and great gift ideas to help you get it right for your Valentine.

The bottom of the email contains the following:

How do I know this is not a Spoof email?

Well, if I need advice from a spamming finance organisation about what to get my wife for Valentine’s Day then my marriage really is in trouble. I’d be interested to know what a similar message sent to the ‘complicated creatures’ says about men.

On a more serious note, if you want a creative way to celebrate Valentine’s Day why not check out Special Someone. This is a really imaginative campaign organised by Sharecreative, Care and Stop The Traffik.

Heart-shaped confetti? Hand-crafted chocolates? However you choose to celebrate it, Valentine’s Day is on its way! It’s the one time of year we all have an excuse to show everyone how much we value them. But for 27 million people across the world it’s a different story. These people are trapped in slavery, unloved, with a price on their heads but treated as worthless.

Human Trafficking is a multi-billion pound industry happening right now, in our world, and in our cities.

This modern-day slave trade is all around us. From the clothes we wear, the food we eat and the phone we use to the people we walk by every day.

It’s Valentine’s Day. It’s a day about love. Everyone deserves to be treated as that special someone – not as a commodity to be bought and sold. Let’s use this day to show the real value of people. Let’s use it to call for an end to human trafficking.

You can also follow Special Someone on Facebook.

Stop the Traffik

I read an interesting post by The Church Mouse earlier today. Mouse writes about one of the clergy who provided the inspiration behind the REV TV series.  According to a report in the Evening Standard the Rev Paul Turp is supporting a campaign to keep open lapdancing clubs in his parish, in the face of Hackney council’s ‘nil policy’ on such establishments.

I don’t know all the facts on the ground about this story and inevitably many press reports will present the story in the most sensationalist of terms. However, I am concerned about any impression or suggestion that lapdancing and strip clubs are harmless. The Revd Turp is quoted as saying:

I would prefer if it didn't happen, but Hackney council cannot impose a moral code on it citizens, it can only impose a criminal code. I've been here for 27 years and there have been no problems. They are not dodgy, back-street places where people are getting ripped off. They are well run and the council has done a good job at licensing them…

There are much bigger social problems that destroy communities for the council to be concentrating on than lapdancing clubs..

I’m not sure what is meant by there being ‘no problems’. The exploitation and degradation of women is a problem. The idea that women are commodities to be enjoyed for the cost of a tenner slipped in a G-string is a problem. The impact of the sex and pornography industries on our communities is a problem. A society in which 31 London councils have seen an increase in rape during 2010, while conviction rates remain pathetically low, has a problem. Eastern European women being enticed or forced to work in lap dancing and strip clubs across Europe including in the U.K. is a problem. Men, women and children being trafficked and traded across the world for the warped gratification of others is a problem.

Stop The Traffik is a growing global movement of individuals, communities and organisations fighting to PREVENT the sale of people, PROTECT the trafficked and PROSECUTE the traffickers. Those trafficked include those deceived or taken against their will, bought, sold and transported into slavery for sexual exploitation, sweat shops, child brides, circuses, sacrificial worship, forced begging, sale of human organs, farm labour, domestic servitude.

Now that’s a campaign well worth supporting.