The people of Nottingham will tomorrow be urged to sign a petition banning 'sex for sale' advertisements, as part of a national day aimed at raising awareness of human trafficking.
In a bid to support Anti-Slavery Day, which takes place annually on October 18, the Soroptimist International of Nottingham will be at the Speakers Corner collecting signatures for the Purple Teardrop petition.
They will also be encouraging people to sign the Freedom Wall in Arnold outside the Methodist Church, which seeks to raise public awareness about people trafficking.
The Purple Teardrop petition to the UK Government urges ministers to ban advertising of sexual services. Many 'sex for sale' advertisements are placed by traffickers and so contribute to the demand for sexually exploited women and children, Purple Teardrop campaigners explain.
The petition signing is one of many events taking place across the country tomorrow as part of Anti-Slavery Day.
The day is aimed at raising awareness of the modern day slave trade – that is, child trafficking, forced labour, domestic servitude and trafficking for sexual exploitation.
According to the Human Trafficking Foundation, "there are more people in slavery today than in the entire 350 year history of the slave trade and 1 in 8 of those is in Europe."
Some 800,000 people – children, men and women - trafficked every year, the foundation says.
Some 76 per cent of victims are trafficked for sexual exploitation, Eurostat finds, and 70 per cent of victims are women.
Some 17 per cent are men, 11 per cent girls and two per cent boys.
Human trafficking is the second-biggest source of illicit profits after the drugs trade, the European Commission says, with traffickers making $32 billion in profits annually.
Anti-Slavery Day was created by an Act of Parliament following the passage of the Anti-Slavery Day Bill in 2010.
The Bill was introduced in Parliament as a Private Members' Bill by Anthony Steen, former MP for Totnes in south Devon. The Bill passed through both Houses unopposed, although amended.
Anti-Slavery Day organisers hope the event will put pressure on government, local authorities and public institutions to address the scale and scope of human trafficking.
Mr Steen, the former MP behind Anti-Slavery Day, said informing the public about the modern day slave trade is vital if it is to be stamped out: "You need awareness," he said.
"People have to know there's a brothel around the corner, they have got to know there are men in the fields on debt bondage."
Events to commemorate Anti-Slavery day will be taking place across the country tomorrow. Films about the modern day slave trade will be screened in Bristol, Gloucester, Loughborough and Leeds, while conferences and concerts will be held in cities including Nottingham, Croydon and Leicester.
To find out more about Anti-Slavery Day, visit www.antislaveryday.com.
