Modern Day Slavery

"As unimaginable as it seems, slavery and bondage still persist in the early 21st century. Millions of people around the world still suffer in silence in slave-like situations of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation from which they cannot free themselves. Trafficking in persons is one of the greatest human rights challenges of our time." These are the opening lines of the State Department's June 2003 Trafficking in Persons Report.

- From the US Department of State website

There is a new movie coming out this Friday, February 23rd called Amazing Grace about William Wilberforce's campaign for the abolition of slavery in the British Empire. John Newton, who wrote the famous song Amazing Grace, was a slave trader who later in his life became a follower of Jesus and joined Wilberforce in his work to abolish slavery. Inspired by the movie a new campaign The Amazing Change has been started to bring awareness about modern day slavery and to work for its end.

"It's estimated that 27 million people are in slavery around the world"

Sourced by the UN, New York Times, Amnesty International, The Christian Science Monitor, and Free The Slaves, among others.

David Batstone, author of Not for Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade--and How We Can Fight It will be speaking at First Pres Berkeley on Monday, March 5th. David is Professor of ethics at the University of San Francisco, founding editor of Business 2.0 and is the founder of social venture firm, Right Reality.