Compilation of Reports from the Conference on 'When People are Treated as Commodities in the Global Market'

“Hands Up for Freedom” is a development education project involving a partnership between five non-governmental organisations (NGOs): Anti-Slavery International in London; Communità Internazionale di Capodarco (CICA) in Rome; IEPALA (Instituto de Estudios Políticos para América Latina y África) in Madrid; Movimento Laici America Latina (MLAL), Progetto Mondo in Verona; and OIKOS in Lisbon.

The project’s purpose is to create public awareness of new forms of slavery and in particular of trafficking in human beings. This is an often misunderstood phenomenon that involves the sexual and labour exploitation of women, men and children, in every part of the world. “Hands Up for Freedom” aims to raise awareness of these issues amongst secondary school and university students, teachers, trade unions representatives, employers, politicians and the general public.

In October 2006, the organisations involved in the “Hands Up for Freedom” project took part in a two-day conference held at the Auditorium in Verona, Italy. Partners were invited from various countries and papers were presented on topics relating to the conference theme, “When People are treated as Commodities in the Global Market”. This report is a summary of some of the information made available during the conference in Verona.