Press Release: Monday 12, 2007

Children are not for Sale!

‘Children are not for sale and neither is childhood an ongoing sexual audition for adulthood,’ says Chris Frazer, social justice advocate for The Salvation Army's Social Policy and Parliamentary Unit.

Despite this, the numbers of children worldwide who are sold daily to meet consumer demand continues to grow, and much of that demand is for sexual services. UNICEF states that across the world there are over one million children entering the commercial sex trade every year and many of these will have been trafficked.

While human trafficking may not grab the attention of the general public, it is a growing issue in many other parts of the world and one we all bear some responsibility for.

Why?

Because New Zealand’s own abysmal record of child abuse is a concern for everyone. So too is the rise in the amount of pornographic material that involves the sexual abuse of children, sex tourism, and consumerism that demands quality goods at cheap prices.

To coincide with the 200th Commemoration of the Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, The Wellington Cathedral of St. Paul and The Salvation Army, along with other churches and concerned organisations are taking action to bring to the public’s attention issues relating to modern day slavery—particularly human trafficking.

The Freedom Day campaign begins with a service to be held at the Wellington Cathedral of St. Paul, Sunday March 18 at 7:30pm. Among those taking part is the Race Relations Commissioner, Joris de Bres, World Vision, ECPAT and Save the Children.

On the following day, 19 March, at 12:15pm ECPAT NZ (End Child Prostitution and Trafficking) will be talking about such issues of concern as sex tourism and pornography at St. Andrews on the Terrace.

ENDS

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