Two hundred years ago, William Wilberforce introduced the parliamentary bill that eventually led to the abolition of the slave trade. But the fight is not over. If the scourge of people-trafficking is to be eradicated across the globe, anti-slavery campaigners will need patience, tenacity and faith

In 1789, the year of the French Revolution, William Wilberforce started advocating the abolition of slavery. Results were long in coming, but he persevered - perhaps endowed with Yorkshire stubbornness - until in 1807 the Act of the Abolition of the Slave Trade was passed. This, for the British, brought an end to trading in slaves, but slavery as such was only outlawed by the Emancipation Act, which came into force in 1833 - just about at the time of Wilberforce's death.

Yet slavery continued. It was in 1865 that a constitutional amendment prohibited slavery throughout the whole of the United States of America. In the next decade the practice was still rife in Africa, as explorers such as David Livingstone discovered. Archbishop, later to become Cardinal, Charles Lavigerie, the founder of the missionary society to which I belong, the Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers), was an avid reader of the accounts of the African explorers. He became an active promoter of the Anti-Slavery Campaign, travelling to different cities of Europe to arouse public opinion. He came to London in 1888, and on 31 July spoke in the Prince's Hall (today known as the Albert Hall). In the course of his speech he mentioned his emotion at seeing Livingstone's words, inscribed on his tomb in Westminster Abbey, describing slavery as "the open sore of the world". He also referred to the inspiration he drew from the pioneering efforts of William Wilberforce in the struggle to have slavery abolished.

Lavigerie's missionaries in Africa set up refuges and orphanages for former slaves and even created Christian villages especially for those who could no longer be reunited with their families. But while Lavigerie's campaigning efforts helped to increase awareness of the problem, he was unable to bring about any concerted action. Today, classical slavery still exists in such places as northern Nigeria, Sudan and Mauritania, and there is a modern form as well: the crime of trafficking in persons.

Last year the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) defined trafficking as: "the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or the use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability ... for the purpose of exploitation".

Trafficking involves, first, "recruitment", which covers hiring or buying. Then there is a transitional stage involving the transport of victims and their harbouring. The final destination may well be a third country, but may not necessarily be so since some people, including children, are trafficked yet remain in their own country.

Force is integral to trafficking, sometimes through abduction, which takes us back to the raids of the former slave traders. Other forms of coercion, by means of threats against people or family members may be used. There may be the abuse of power, when parents or guardians engage in the transaction of minors, either out of need or greed, or because they are under the illusion that their children will benefit from the transaction. More often the means used is that of fraud or deception, where spurious job opportunities are offered.

The purpose of trafficking is simply financial gain through exploitation. It may take the form of slavery or it may be prostitution, or sex tourism or pornography. Another form of financial gain is forced labour and people can also be trafficked for the sale of organs. Trafficking also entails profit laundering and thus is connected to a number of other criminal offences, such as the smuggling of migrants, or the illegal sale of arms, or dealing in drugs.

The UNODC report of April 2006 highlights evidence of the trafficking of persons from 127 countries to be exploited in 137 countries. One of the maps illustrating the report shows that the main countries of origin are in central and south-eastern Europe, West Africa (particularly Nigeria), Latin America (particularly Brazil, Colombia and Mexico), and Asia (showing Bangladesh, Burma and the Philippines - to which should be added countries such as China and India that are at the same time countries of origin and destination). The main countries of destination are those of Western Europe, the United States, Australia, Saudi Arabia and Japan.

What about the numbers of victims? An Amnesty International leaflet states that according to the UN, 700,000 people are trafficked each year for sexual exploitation. An article in White Fathers - White Sisters (August-September 2006) states that approximately 600,000 to 800,000 victims are trafficked across international borders annually. According to the UK Anti-Trafficking Network Platform, set up by Women Aid International, an organisation founded in 1987, every year 2,000,000 girls between the age of 5 and 15 are coerced, abducted, sold or trafficked into illegal sex markets. These are just estimates. There are no reliable statistics. As the UNODC report points out, it is inherent in the nature of any organised criminal activity that the greater part of the activity goes undetected. Nevertheless the Executive Director of UNODC, Antonio Maria Costa, in his foreword to the report, says: "Complaining that accurate statistics are hard to come by may sound like an excuse. But it is a fact due only in part to the hidden nature of the crime. The lack of systematic reporting by authorities is the real problem."

Trafficking is a profitable business. Amnesty International mentions a turnover of £4 billion from trafficking for sexual exploitation. What then can be done to eliminate this evil? The 2006 Report of the UNODC contains almost 30 recommendations, a number of which are concerned with greater collaboration in the collection of information on this traffic. The UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking of Persons of 2003 outlines three steps: prevention, pursuit and protection.

Prevention entails reducing the demand for the services which the trafficking of persons provides. This means reducing the demand for cheap goods manufactured in sweatshops or produced by bonded labour. And reducing the demand for sexual services. What is required here is consumer awareness in the first instance and in the second good sexual education, especially on the true meaning of sexual relations and the importance of the stability that marriage gives, rather than merely passing on information about safe sex.

By pursuit is intended all legitimate means that can be used to target traffickers. In 2003 the Philippines Government passed the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act. This Act lists various categories of people involved in trafficking: these include those who recruit for any form of exploitation, those engaged in the transport of the victims, those who allow their property to be used for harbouring or for exploitation in any way, those who provide false travel documents or work permits, and so on. There are special categories for child traffickers and others, and penalties are graded accordingly.

The third step is the protection of the victims, because sometimes, on account of flawed legislation, they are put back into the hands of traffickers. This is one area where much advocacy is taking place. For instance, the Women's Consortium of Nigeria advocates specific repatriation procedures that will respect the rights of the women and guarantee their safety.

The Philippines Government has overseen the establishment of centres for its migrant workers. Established where feasible within the premises of the embassy, they provide counselling, legal services, conciliation if required, possible welfare assistance, training or upgrading in skills, and orientation for returnees.

There is a need for coordinated action in combating modern forms of slavery. At a meeting of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, held in Brussels at the beginning of last December, Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Holy See's Secretary for Relations with States, pledged the support of the Catholic Church. He said: "The Holy See appreciates greatly the documents which aim at intensifying the fight against the trafficking of persons, with an approach that focuses on the victims. The scourge of the sexual exploitation of children, which is often linked to human trafficking, also requires special attention ... the Catholic Church will not fail to continue to stimulate the conscience of the world regarding the extent and the gravity of these scourges."

Christians have been to the fore in combating modern slavery. Sr Connie Gemme, a Missionary Sister of Our Lady of Africa (White Sister), became involved in the fight against the trafficking of women in 1995 when she was working in Ghana. Another White Sister, Lea Ackerman, did similar work in East Africa and is now continuing in Germany. I am sure that Cardinal Lavigerie would be proud of these members of the religious congregation he founded.

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