Petition against Human Trafficking

(Summary put simply) - This petitions urges governments to do more to stop slavery, now known as human trafficking. This includes: giving heavier penalties to traffickers (slave-drivers); signing United Nations agreements; training more people to spot traffickers; protecting victims of trafficking and helping them as much as possible; not to send victims back to their own country where they may be murdered; not to treat victims as if they are criminals because they are not.

We call on all governments to:

1. Increase efforts to combat trafficking.

2. Give full protection to the victims.

3. Pass laws so that punishments for human trafficking reflect the extremely serious nature of the crime.

4. Sign and ratify the United Nations Protocol on Trafficking in Persons (2000) and the UN Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers (1990).

5. Train professionals to look for the signs that a person is a victim of trafficking.

6. Support victims of trafficking with counselling, legal, medical, financial and practical assistance appropriate to their special needs, ie severe trauma, humiliation and constant threat of death.

7. Provide support regardless of whether the victims co-operate with prosecutions. A trafficked person is not an illegal immigrant or a criminal and their full human rights must be ensured.

8. Provide support from the moment they are recognised until the time they are happily repatriated or given citizenship.

9. Ensure that all anti-trafficking efforts are non-discriminatory and do not adversely affect other vulnerable groups like refugees or migrants

10. Increase public awareness of the hows and whys of trafficking to help prevent vulnerable people becoming victims and to help in identifying possible victims and traffickers

I agree and want to sign this petition