Today July 30th we are keeping the first UN World Day Against Trafficking in Persons.  This day was proclaimed by the General Assembly in 2013.  Did you know that William Wilberforce died on July 29th in 1833.  He devoted his life to the abolition of slavery.  Tirelessly he delivered speeches, circulated petitions and introduced bills in Parliament (UK).  Constantly he pressed the point that what was being justified in the name of profit was the brutal commerce in human life.  “Never, never will we desist till we have wiped away this scandal from the load of guilt under which we at present labour, and until we have extinguished every trace of this bloody traffic which our posterity will scarcely believe had been suffered to exist so long, a disgrace and dishonour to our country.”  William Wilberforce  

Has anything changed?  Read more from the UN Website Here  If you use social media click http://thndr.it/1mqUUZl

Read the message of the Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons especially women and children for today.  It is in 6 languages click here  Ms. Joy Ezeilo ends her term as Special Rapporteur on July 31st.  She has written a report on the first decade of the mandate of special rapporteurs on Trafficking in Persons especially women and children. Click here   Ms Sigma Huda (Bangladesh) (2004-2008) was the first mandate holder.  The newly appointed special rapporteur is Ms Maria Grazia Giammarinaro from Italy.  

Ms Giammarinaro has been OSCE (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings in January 2010.   Ms Giammarinaro received a Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Hero Award in 2012 from US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to honour her significant contributions in the struggle to end modern-day slavery. She was one of ten notable individuals from around the world recognized by the State Department.