Against child trafficking? support TEARFUND

No more child trafficking

SPIRITUAL PASSION

At TEARFUND, we’re Christians committed to following Jesus where the need is greatest. God has called us to serve those living in poverty, regardless of race, gender, nationality or religious belief.

We know the gospel has the power to transform lives and heal communities, we see this truth in our work every day. God isn’t giving up on the poor, neither are we.
Trafficking is the fastest growing crime in the world, ravaging the lives of 1.2 million children across the world every year. That number is set to rise, unless we stop it in its tracks. The good news is: we can.

Watch this film to find out how Christians are turning the tide of trafficking in one Lao village. There is a road that leads to Thailand. To the desperate girls in this small village in Laos it can look like a tempting prospect. The idea of a better life, just over the mountains, can seem like a dream come true. But for many, it’s the beginning of a nightmare.
Nang lives with her parents and three sisters in a small village in Laos on the border of Thailand. She’s 12 years old. She has one year of school left. Even though she enjoys school, life is hard. She wants to be a nurse when she grows up but the reality is that staying in education isn’t an option for her. Her parents can’t afford it. There are some things Nang doesn’t want. She says, ‘I don’t want to be poor. Now we are very poor. I just want to stop being poor and have many things.’

Asked what her hopes are for the future, she laughs. The interpreter tells us that’s a very hard question for Laos people. Here most people have so few prospects that the possibility of something else for their lives is beyond them. They have no real hope.

And this lack of hope puts girls like Nang in serious danger.

To support TEARFUND, click on this link TEARFUND, Have a blessed week-end. 

Stop modern slavery and trafficking!

Call to end modern day slavery

An anti-slavery coalition is calling on the government to add strong measures to the draft Modern Slavery Bill so it is effective and reduces trafficking and slavery.
The Evangelical Alliance and 14 other organisations make up the coalition, including A21 Campaign, CARE, The Salvation Army, Hope for Justice, Love 146, International Justice Mission and Stop the Traffik.
The coalition briefing calls for an end to modern slavery once and for all: "The transatlantic slave trade was banned in 1807 and slavery was abolished across the British Empire in 1834, yet it is still with us today. Children are sold into slavery to pay family debts; people pay for passage, only to be trafficked over borders and find forced labour conditions rather than freedom ... this must end."
Dr Dave Landrum, director of advocacy at the Evangelical Alliance, said: "For evangelicals this is unfinished business. We've been fighting slavery for hundreds of years, and we are still at it today. This bill needs to live up to its promise. It has the potential to tackle modern slavery but needs to listen to the campaign groups in order to achieve that aim. Together as organisations motivated by our Christian faith we call on the government to act and strengthen the bill so it can bring freedom to many caught in slavery."

The call comes today, as the government issues their draft of the Modern Slavery Bill and Frank Field MP publishes his evidence review. 

Following the publication of the Centre for Social Justice's report It Happens Here in March 2013, pressure has built for the government to introduce a new law. The proposals increase the maximum sentences and bring together offences currently dealt with under different strands of the legal system.

Churches are urged to meet with their MPs and encourage them to take a strong and uncompromising stance against all shades and forms of modern-day slavery when the bill comes up for debate at Westminster in 2014.

Read on..