UPDATE (September 2011): This petition is now closed. Thank you to the more than 7 million supporters who called on the UN to stop child trafficking for sexual exploitation. We continue to campaign for the eradication of trafficking for all forms of exploitation, including sexual exploitation.

In August 2009, ECPAT UK and The Body Shop UK launched a three-year campaign, Stop Sex Trafficking of Children and Young People, to raise awareness of the issue and to empower people to make a difference. The UK petition closed on 5 May 2011, after attracting an incredible 735,889 signatures. ECPAT UK and The Body Shop UK organised a handover event to present the petition to the Government.

A few months later, on 28 and 29 September 2011 in Geneva, ECPAT and The Body Shop presented their global petition to the United Nations, calling on governments around the world to take urgent action to stop the trafficking and exploitation of children and young people.

The petition, which attracted an amazing 7,044,278 signatures in more than 50 countries, was one of the largest petitions ever to be presented to the United Nations, and 735,889 of these signatures came from people in the UK.