Today marks the UK’s first Anti-Slavery Day.

Modern slavery expert Professor Kevin Bales says that India "may have more slaves than all the other countries of the world put together" and with the majority of slaves in India being Dalits, there seems no better people to highlight on this landmark day than them.

Dalit Freedom Network UK (DFN UK), the human rights charity, used the run up to the UK’s first Anti-Slavery Day to raise awareness of the trafficking of India’s Dalit people. Dr Joseph D’souza (pictured left), International President of the Dalit Freedom Network and internationally renowned writer and campaigner on behalf of the Dalit people, participated in a week of events focused on highlighting the vulnerability of the Dalit people to human traffickers.

Dr D’souza commented, ‘The UK having a specific Anti-Slavery Day is a really important signal to the world that no country can escape the problem of human trafficking. There is much to be gained from India and the UK working together and sharing learning to tackle this heinous crime.’

The week of events began with a Parliamentary reception. Lord Alton, who voiced his support for the commemorative day in a speech back in March, hosted the reception which reinforced the attention he brought to the problem of Dalit trafficking.

Following the reception, DFN UK hosted a series of interviews and meetings culminating in a multi-media event held in the midlands. The powerful video used in these events to launch DFN UK's anti-trafficking campaign, "Dalit Freedom: One By One" can be viewed online here.The organisation was also mentioned on Thursday in the House of Commons when Jeremy Lefroy MP said of DFN UK that ‘the network does tremendous work in India’.

Regarded as outcasts, India’s Dalits, numbering 250 million people, one quarter of India’s population, have faced thousands of years of discrimination. Limited access to opportunities which could better their futures has made them one of the world’s poorest people groups.

Discrimination and poverty make the Dalits easy prey for human traffickers. The result: the Dalit people are believed to make up almost half of all those trafficked into modern slavery in the world today.

DFN UK also used the week to urge the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to recognise that the trafficking of Dalits is a major human rights issue by covering it in their annual human rights report.  The organisation is encouraging all those with a desire for justice to contact their local MP, inform them of their concerns, and call for the inclusion of Dalit trafficking through this report.

If you need some guidance on how to contact your MP, please refer to our Action Sheet 2.