| February marked the 200th anniversary of laws that | | | | easy one. However she counts herself one of the |
| disallowed human trafficking. In conjunction with this | | | | lucky ones, because she understands that the vast |
| bicentennial the film Amazing Grace, based on the life | | | | majority is not so fortunate to escape. "When the |
| of antislavery pioneer William Wilberforce, is slated to | | | | average person hears the term slavery, he or she |
| open in theaters nationwide in February 2007. The | | | | probably thinks of an era long gone, yet the shocking |
| film highlights moral values in society and focuses on | | | | truth is that the slave trade is alive and well, said |
| how Wilberforce who, as a member of Parliament, | | | | Butler. "An estimated 27 million struggle in slavelike |
| navigated the world of 18th Century backroom | | | | conditions." President of Washington, D.C.-based Free |
| politics to end the slave trade in the British Empire. | | | | the Slaves Kevin Bales is also a professor of |
| Although slavery was abolished throughout the British | | | | sociology at Roehampton University in London, and |
| Empire in 1833-34, and in the United States in 1865, | | | | considered the world's leading expert on |
| and today no national government officially allows the | | | | contemporary slavery. His book Disposable People: |
| ownership of another human being, the practice is still | | | | New Slavery in the Global Economy has become a |
| widespread throughout most of the world. In a | | | | recognized manual on the subject. In his interview |
| compelling Vision.org article that touches on ethics | | | | about the causes of modern slavery with Butler, |
| and current events, contributor Bill Butler raises the | | | | Bales offers his thoughts, as he has dedicated himself |
| question - why, if two hundred years ago Briton and | | | | to combat what he refers to as "the terrible frozen |
| the United States outlawed human trafficking, are | | | | face of ignorance and icy apathy of the public to the |
| there more than 800,000 to 900,000 victims | | | | lot of an estimated 27 million slaves in the world." |
| trafficked globally each year? According to the | | | | Butler identifies several organizations that are working |
| government 17,500 to 18,500 are trafficked into the | | | | on solutions to human trafficking. Compassionate, |
| United States. Women and children comprise the | | | | decent-minded people everywhere must stand behind |
| largest group of victims. The article is part of a | | | | those organized efforts to defeat this type of evil, |
| special report running on this week that analyzes the | | | | but it will take more than human endeavor and |
| current social issues surrounding the global human | | | | government legislation to change the hearts of those |
| trafficking problem. The report features interviews | | | | who selfishly inflict so much suffering on the poor, |
| with several experts on modern slavery and human | | | | the disadvantaged and the vulnerable. The problem is |
| trafficking as well as victims of the scourge. Butler | | | | a deep-seated spiritual one that has plagued human |
| interview one such victim, Beatrice Fernando, originally | | | | nature from the beginning of time and remains a |
| from Sri Lanka but now living in the United States. | | | | current social issue problem. "Humans have always |
| The 23-year-old woman was taken as a slave from | | | | exploited other humans," stated Butler. "Human |
| her home to Lebanon, where her life became so | | | | nature is part of the problem, but the way people |
| unbearable that she leapt for freedom from a | | | | view their responsibility to any and all other human |
| fourth-story Beirut balcony. Her long road of escape | | | | beings is a spiritual matter. |
| and return to a normal role in society was not an | | | | |