GIFT box in Luton
Did you know that 35 double decker busloads of people are trafficked somewhere in the world every day?
Jenny Spouge and Spoorthi Pramila with the GIFT box
More people are being bought and sold than during the original ‘slave trade’, and the trade vies with armaments as the largest source of illegal income worldwide. Previous evidence shows that trafficking may increase for street crime, begging and sexual exploitation during large events such as the World Cup or Olympics, and so Stop the Traffik joined with the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Trafficking (UN-GIFT) in an imaginative awareness raising campaign over the last few months.
Large gift boxes have enticing slogans on the outside - the sort of things traffickers use to trap their victims: job opportunities abroad, the chance to provide for your family. Inside the grim reality is revealed.
Luton Council of Faiths and the South Bedfordshire Methodist Circuit supported the siting of a box in St George’s Square during the Paralympics, and between 6th and 9th September volunteers (from local churches and the university - including several Methodists!) held conversations with 700-800 passers-by, most of whom signed cards demonstrating support for the campaign to end this appalling crime and obtained additional information to aid in spotting suspicious circumstances in our own communities, as victims of trafficking have been found previously in Luton. For more information see www.stopthetraffik.org/campaign/olympics