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Association for Community Development (ACD) will receive the 2001
Anti-Slavery Award from the UK human rights organisation, Anti-Slavery
International. ACD is being honoured for its outstanding work against
human trafficking in Bangladesh. The ceremony will be held on Tuesday,
13 November at Waterstones Bookshop, Piccadilly, London.
Journalist Saira Shah will present the award to ACD's founder
and director, Salima Sarwar. Two trafficked children who live in
ACD's shelter home will also attend
the ceremony.
"Trafficking is a major violation of human rights. Poverty
and social instability allow it to flourish. They undermine women's
power, making them and their children vulnerable to traffickers'
false promises of a better life. All of its causes must be addressed
if it is to be stopped,” Salima Sarwar said.
In Bangladesh, tens of thousands of women and children are trafficked
each year into slavery. They are taken to countries in South Asia
and beyond. Tricked through marriage and the offer of good jobs,
they are forced to work in factories, as domestics, or as prostitutes.
ACD works to help people who have been trafficked recover from their
ordeal through counselling, education and training. It also conducts
local education campaigns raising the public's awareness of the
dangers of trafficking.
This rapidly growing abuse has spread slavery to every continent.
A recent United States Government report estimates between 700,000
to two million women and children are trafficked across borders
each year.
The Award ceremony marks the launch of Anti-Slavery's campaign
against trafficking. We are calling for the development of laws
in the UK and internationally that will: penalise traffickers, protect
trafficked people's human rights and address the root causes of
this abuse.
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