Brilliant news! After many months of campaigning by tens of thousands of 38 Degrees members, the Independent on Sunday and our friends at Anti-Slavery International, the government has said it’s going to sign up to the EU Directive on Human Trafficking.

On the 19th March, we went along to 10 Downing Street with Anti-slavery International and the Independent on Sunday to hand in a petition of over 45,000 signatures.  The petition was handed in by Oxana, who is a survivor of human trafficking from the Ukraine to the UK.

We were asking the government to sign up to the new EU Directive on Human Trafficking, so that there is more co-operation across Europe to protect victims of human trafficking. And it worked, the government has agreed to the Directive.

When we first heard that the government was refusing to take action on trafficking, we teamed up with specialist groups Anti-Slavery International and ECPAT.  Nearly 50,000 of us signed the petition and thousands of us emailed our MPs to make sure the government took action on this issue.

Now, the victims of trafficking will have better protection provided by the EU Directive, with countries across Europe working together to target the criminal gangs and traffickers that are exploiting people. This decision is important, but won’t stop human trafficking altogether. It is a big step in the right direction towards justice and protection for victims of human trafficking.

You can find out more about the campaign on Anti-Slavery International’s website here.

Click here to find out more about Human Trafficking.

Here are a few photos from the hand-in:

38 Degrees members wanted to continue with the campaign against Human Trafficking. Members have been sending their MPs emails and signing the petition asking the government to get tough on human trafficking. We sent this email out last Wednesday:

Dear friend,

Will our government join European efforts to tackle human trafficking? It’s on a knife edge. And there’s no time to lose: the government is likely to make a decision, good or bad, in the next couple of weeks.

Tell the government to protect the victims of human trafficking

MPs could play a key role in pushing the government to do the right thing. They need to tell David Cameron and Theresa May that their voters want action to tackle trafficking. Let’s email our MPs today and demand they speak out.

Every year, criminal gangs traffic thousands of people into the UK. Once the victims arrive here, many of them, including children, end up in the sex trade. The new Europe-wide plan would make life harder for the criminal gangs, and mean better protection for the victims.

If our government refuses to join in, that would be a disaster: great news for the trafficking gangs, but terrible news for their victims. If enough of us contact our MPs this week, we can help make sure that doesn’t happen.

We will be delivering our petition – over 42,000 strong - very soon. Contacting MPs now will mean the government feels the pressure from all angles. We know that the combination of a public petition and personal messages to MPs can make a difference. That’s exactly what we did to change the government’s mind about selling off our forests.

For more information on Human Trafficking please visit the Anti Slavery Website at: http://www.antislavery.org/english/

Our campaign telling the government to sign up to the new EU ban on human trafficking is really getting noticed, with partners such as Anti-Slavery International, the Independent on Sunday and ECPAT UK on board. This week, the Independent on Sunday (IoS) published an article about the campaign, telling it’s readers about why it’s important. Almost 13,000 people have already signed the petition and public pressure is growing all the time with more and more people talking about it.

The article in the Independent on Sunday shows just how many people are getting involved, with a play showing the horrors of trafficking to be shown in the House of Lords this month.  It also mentions the support of influential figures  such as Shadow Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper and MP Caroline Lucas. Having the backing of the IoS is really helping show how important it is that the UK does sign up to these rules- just last week the IoS pulished another article revealing how Romanian children were made to work in awful conditions on a farm in Worcester.

38 Degrees members have been amazing in getting the campaign this far by signing the petition and spreading the word. It’s fantastic that so many people have got involved and the campaign can only get bigger. With our partners we can help change the government’s mind on this issue. When they realise how much support there is for the new rules, including continued attention from a broadsheet, they will have to listen and take notice.

What do you think 38 Degrees should do next to make the campaign even bigger and better?

Who will you vote for?

38 Degrees members have campaigned against secret lobbying in the UK parliament. Earlier this year we had a big campaign win when the new government pledged to introduce tighter rules. However shady lobbyists also work in Brussels.  Here you can read about and vote for the EU’s Worst Lobbyist 2010.

Who will you vote for?

> Will you go for Goldman Sachs who lobbied against tighter regulations after the financial crises caused by banks?

> How about the hedge funds who fought against EU laws that would  control their tactics which have destabilised economies in the past?

> Or why not vote for Britain’s favourite bank-the Royal Bank of Scotland? RBS have purposely kept their lobbying secretive and have recently employed a former EU Industry Commissioner as an ‘advisor’.

Or you could go for one of the three energy companies who consistently lobbied against effective climate change laws?

Its your choice!

38 Degrees members Mark and Kelly meet Jean Lambert

38 Degrees had only been active for a couple of weeks when we faced the first European Parliament election in which the British National Party could win seats. We made a tool to give people the chance to sign up for a reminder to go and vote, because minority parties like the BNP rely on low turnout to help increase their share of votes and make it more likely they’ll win seats.

Everyone who signed up for a reminder also got the chance to win a weekend for two in Brussels, so they could get out to see for themselves how EU democracy works. A couple of weeks ago, the winners of the competition went out to Brussels to meet Jean Lambert, one of their MEPs.

38 Degrees members Mark Edmunds and Kelly Sullivan told us about their meeting: “We outlined the activities and methods used by 38 Degrees to raise the profile of public concerns via campaigning and petitions. We then spoke about the rise of right-wing politics across Europe and in the UK and what factors may be driving it. The possible reasons we identified were the economic downturn and the lack of constructive political debate which manifested in rises in social tensions, hate crimes, exploitation of workers and an erosion of their rights. Thanks for the opportunity, which we found insightful and informative.”

Mark and Kelly’s visit to Brussels is the first time that 38 Degrees has had a face-to-face meeting with an MEP and it was brilliant to hear that it went so well, with opportunities to discuss some of the most important issues facing British MEPs. We’re looking forward to our next campaign targeting the European Parliament, when we can build on the work that Mark and Kelly have already done in making sure that UK MEPs know what 38 Degrees members have set out to achieve together.