Slavery of people is not an issue of the past. It is an injustice that destroys the lives of millions of people today. Some estimates suggest that there are over 150 million people in our world held in some form of slavery.
Every day there are hundreds of young girls being sold into sexual slavery; often traded like commodities across borders. Young girls, amongst the most vulnerable and defenseless in society, suffer the injustice of slavery because trafficking is a lucrative business for criminals. After Arms and narcotics, trafficking of people is the third largest illegal trade in the world.
CIJR believe that human beings must not be bought or sold. Trafficking human beings is a crime and the perpetrators must be punished. We work in partnership with other NGO’s to fight against human trafficking. CIJR is a member of the stopthetraffik coalition.
In February 2008, a CIJR delegation attended the UN sponsored international conference on Fighting Human Trafficking at the United Nations in Vienna.