From Walk Free. org

Today is World Day Against Child Labour. But even as you read, boys like Kwesi from Ghana are being pushed into forced labour and girls like Durga from India are being tricked into domestic slavery.1 Right now another girl or boy could be at risk of losing their childhood.

With over 35.8 million people living in modern slavery, we need united action against the enslavement of all children, women and men in every corner of the world.2

We can’t let today be just another day. By signing this petition you can help make child slavery a global priority now.

Walk Free activists have been instrumental in the past in the fight against child slavery and together our campaigns have made governments and businesses sit up and listen. Just last week with our partner Challenging Heights, we succeeded in getting the Ghanaian police to pass a directive to screen every vehicle for potential victims of child trafficking at checkpoints across Ghana.3

And in India, with our partner Global March Against Child Labour, we made headway in convincing the Indian Parliament to include stronger changes in a law banning child labour.4

Now we need your help again.

Call on the UN Secretary-General to help stop child slavery by ensuring that modern slavery is included in the Sustainable Development Goals.

We believe that every government in the world needs to take responsibility towards truly ending child slavery. And one way of doing this is by asking the United Nations to clearly prioritise ending modern slavery in the UN Sustainable Development Goals. As an action plan that aims to help shape governments’ policies for years to come, this will be a step that can make governments accountable for ending modern slavery in their countries.

We know that by working together, countries around the world can achieve some remarkable things. As part of the last set of goals– the Millennium Development Goals — global poverty was halved.5 Imagine what could be achieved if they committed to ending modern slavery.

Children like Kwesi and Durga don’t know that the world is celebrating World Day Against Child Labour today. Let’s show unity in our call for making ending child slavery a priority for governments across the globe so that every child can walk free.

In solidarity,

Joanna, Kamini, Zoe, Sonia, Alex, and the rest of the Walk Free team

1 Challenging Heights Rescue Report (unpublished)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/daughters-sale-indias-child-slavery-scourge/story?id=20540368
2 http://www.globalslaveryindex.org/
3 http://challengingheights.org/challenging-heights-welcomes-commitment-by-ghana-police-to-properly-screen-vehicles-for-trafficked-children/
4 http://www.walkfree.org/end-the-enslavement-of-millions-of-indian-children/
5 http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Resources/Static/Products/Progress2014/English2014.pdf