Yesterday, Thursday 12th May 2011, was an amazing day as we handed over the ECPAT UK/The Body Shop petition against child trafficking to the UK Government. With 735,889 signatures this is a huge achievement, and the event reflected this with supporters attending from across the UK, including campaign celebrity supporter Martine McCutcheon. Click here to watch a video of the day on YouTube.

The day started early with a photo call in Trafalgar Square. Campaign supporters gathered and collected yellow campaign t-shirts, banners, whistles and clappers, so that we could make as much noise as possible to raise awareness about the campaign to stop child trafficking. Martine McCutcheon, who has supported the campaign since 2010, posed for some great photos with supporters, and then boarded the double-decker open-top campaign bus along with ECPAT UK staff and youth representatives, The Body Shop staff and MPs including Peter Bone (Con, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Human Trafficking) Cathy Jamieson (Lab), Mark Durkan (SDLP) and Fiona Mactaggart (Lab).

The noisy procession of supporters, followed by the campaign bus, then marched from Trafalgar Square down Whitehall towards 10 Downing Street blowing whistles and chanting “Stop Child Trafficking”, much to the interest of passers-by and tourists. Footage from the march was shown live on CNN and photos published in national media. At 10 Downing Street the procession of supporters waited outside the gates, while ECPAT UK staff and UK youth representatives, and The Body Shop staff entered the gates. They were joined by more parliamentarians including Keith Vaz (Lab), Andy Slaughter (Lab), Gavin Shuker (Lab), Dr Caroline Lucas (Leader of the Green Party), Robert Buckland (Con), Kerry McCarthy (Lab), David Amess (Con) and Fiona Bruce (Con). The House of Lords was represented by Baroness Goudie and Baroness Doocey (also Chair of the London Assembly). 
 
After the handover, the procession marched past Parliament and then the campaign bus drove through central London, spreading the message and raising awareness, and collecting new handprints to support the campaign, including along Oxford Street and at Kings Cross St. Pancras.

With almost three quarters of a million signatures in Britain, this is the biggest ever petition to be delivered to the Coalition Government and ECPAT UK will be following up with the Government about our petition call for guardianship for child victims of trafficking.

Please keep an eye on our website and Facebook pages where we will be uploading the campaign photos and videos.