Church and Big Business Challenged to Break Modern Slavery

The former Secretary of State for International Development, Clare Short MP, and the head of the Evangelical Alliance, the Rev Joel Edwards, have taken the call for a better world straight to the heart of London's financial district at JustShare's May Day event yesterday.

|PIC1|The pair appealed to City companies and their workers to do more to end the "unjust global order" as they spoke on the steps of the Royal Exchange on "Ending slavery: then and now?" and the new forms of slavery that exist in the modern world today.

In his address, Rev Edwards told the City workers that slavery was not a thing of the past but had instead taken on new forms in the modern era, including the trafficking of women into Britain to be sold against their will for sex, and the poor wages and working conditions of migrant workers in rural regions across the UK.

"We still have to look at the image of God in those who are enslaved by global poverty and inequality and use our power as consumers, businesses or fund managers to demand justice," he said.

Rev Edwards called on the City's multi-million pound companies to follow the example of the great abolitionists, like William Wilberforce and Olaudah Equiano, and use more of their wealth to bring modern forms of slavery to an end.

"The challenge for 2007 is for business and finance to get hold of a similar moral passion to that which drove the likes of Wilberforce and Equiano, and with it to use the power and wealth that was partly built on the slavery of the past to seek to end the slavery of the present," he said.

"We could create a better world," said Short. "But we've got to change the way we live."

She threw out a direct challenge to the church, saying, "Jesus wouldn't be pleased with us and he would be stunned with the wealth of the churches and their lack of radicalism."

The public addresses were followed by a panel discussion at the nearby St Mary-le-Bow Church where Short and Edwards were joined by Aiden McQuade, Director of Anti-Slavery International.

During the discussion, Rev Edwards agreed with Short's criticism of the church, saying it had "not yet woken up globally to its missional call" to act on the behalf of the poor and that it had become too concerned with internal issues.

He said, however, that God was now "pointing the church out to what it should be", while Short said it was "great" that faiths were increasingly working together.

On the issue of sex trafficking, Short welcomed the concerted effort of church groups but called for greater efforts across faith and non-faith groups. "We're not doing anything like what we should."

McQuade meanwhile warned of the danger that existing slavery in Britain, including sex trafficking in particular, was going unrecognised because people were still living with the "comforting myth that slavery is a thing of the past".

Representatives from CHASTE (Churches Against Sex Trafficking in Europe) were also present at the discussion. One representative reminded the audience, "We were all made in the image of God and we've got to do more to affirm that."

When asked about the possibility of reparations over the slave trade, both speakers agreed that the reparation should be less of a financial payment and more of a commitment to long-term sustainable development.