Stop the Traffik to Tour UK Universities

Throughout February and March 2007, the Oasis Trust will be taking to the road to tour universities across England to raise awareness as part of the Stop the Traffik campaign.

The tour will feature Oasis speakers Rev Dave Steell and Jill Rowe with music from Andy Flannagan and will be a chance for university groups to hear first hand about the campaign, as well as give time to reflect and think about taking action.

The university tour will take in Sussex, Sheffield, Royal Hull, Durham and Cambridge.

Meanwhile, Stop the Traffik has just wrapped up multi-media tour last Friday at St Paul's Hammersmith in London after cross-hopping England to highlight the ongoing exploitation of trafficked women and children.

Lizi Cope, organiser of the Stop the Traffik presentation in Hammersmith, said, "While 2007 is the year in which we commemorate and celebrate the anniversary of the end of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, we want to draw attention to the challenges we face at present in the ongoing travesties such as human trafficking."

Marion White, organiser of the Stop the Traffik tour, said, "While 2007 is the year in which we commemorate and celebrate the anniversary of the end of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, we want to draw attention to the challenges we face at present in the ongoing travesties such as human trafficking."

Stop the Traffik was officially launched at the European Parliament in Brussels on 21 March 2006 by singer Daniel Bedingfield and the movement's chair, Oasis Founder Steve Chalke.

The campaign will culminate on 25 March 2007, the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and now marked as Freedom Day, a day to celebrate the abolition of the slave trade 200 years ago and of mobilisation to end modern day slavery in the form of people trafficking.

Plans are underway to hold major Freedom Day music festivals in London and New York. The heart of Freedom Day, however, will be the tens of thousands of local events currently being organised by coalition members and supporters, including individuals, local charities, schools, clubs and churches in town and cities around the world.

A central part of the campaign, the Stop the Traffik Declaration will be signed by millions of people around the world and delivered to the Secretary General of the United Nations, with copies to the respective heads of state, following Freedom Day.

The declaration states: "People trafficking is wrong, Please STOP THE TRAFFIK"

It demands that leaders take action to:
1 Prevent the sale of people
2 Prosecute the traffickers
3 Protect the victims

Human trafficking is the fastest growing means by which people are forced into slavery and is the third largest source of income for organised crime, exceeded only by drugs and arms trafficking.

Stop the Traffik founding members include Amnesty International, Christian Aid, World Vision, Walden Media, TearFund, The Church Of England, Global Angels, Oasis and many more.

Membership of Stop the Traffik is free and open to schools, charities, youth groups, clubs, business, faith groups and community groups. Find out how you or your organisation can get involved at www.stopthetraffik.org