Thousands of vulnerable people, mostly women and children, are trafficked into our country every year. Tragically, many come on the promise of a better life, to find on their arrival that they are imprisoned and forced into slave labour or prostitution. Criminal gangs and pimps trade women and children like second-hand cars. Each sex trafficker is estimated to earn an average of five hundred to a thousand pounds per woman per week.

Take the case recently highlighted by The Observer of a 17 year-old woman, Marinela Badea, who was abducted from Romania, trafficked to Britain and forced into prostitution. She was repeatedly raped, violently abused and held captive. Marinela’s experience is indicative of what happens to thousands of trafficked women in our country and across the world.

It is a great victory that her traffickers are now serving the longest sentence for human trafficking in our history. But it is extremely rare for the perpetrators to be caught and brought to justice. Prosecution rates are pitifully low and pro-active policing to root out trafficking – such as brothel raids – are being scaled down.

International sporting events are a magnet for traffickers and pimps. The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, has rightly called on the government to take action ahead of the 2012 Olympics and to sign up to the European directive to combat human trafficking.

But her demands are falling on deaf ears. Despite acknowledging that human trafficking is a growing problem, David Cameron has failed to opt in to these new European measures.

At pains to justify his decision, the prime minister claims that the directive goes no further than the measures already in place. Yet in the same breath, he maintains that signing up to the directive is not in our national interest. How can both of these statements be true?

Not only are his justifications contradictory, he is wrong on both counts. The directive goes further in two key areas. It affords greater protection to victims. Trafficked children will be provided with a guardian for the first time. It also enables governments to track down and prosecute criminal gangs across borders – making it easier for our authorities to bring to justice British nationals operating in other European countries.

Furthermore, human trafficking is a cross-border crime and therefore best tackled at a European level. It is an absolute no-brainer to coordinate better with other member states. The directive is squarely in the national interest because it will help to stem the flow of trafficking to our country.

Two centuries ago, we were the first country in the world to abolish the slave trade but now we are lagging behind the rest of Europe in the fight against trafficking. David Cameron should not let his euroscepticism blind him from taking the right course of action. Instead of being a spectator at a European level, he needs to be a statesman and show some leadership in tackling this modern form of slavery.

Sign the petition now to call on David Cameron to adopt the measures

Photo: Chris Beckett