Croydon Community Against Trafficking (CCAT) originated in 2004 when a group of local residents were confronted with research that had been released by The Poppy Project (funded by the UK government). The report detailed the scale of prostitution and exploitation across London and the connections to the issue of trafficking. The group set about their own research in an effort to either disprove or reinforce this research or find a different situation altogether. Their focus became, and remains today, the issue of Human Trafficking - specifically, women in Croydon who are forced, against their will, to work in brothels. [1]
Research comprises "creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of humans, culture and society, and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise new applications." It is used to establish or confirm facts, reaffirm the results of previous work, solve new or existing problems, support theorems, or develop new theories. A research project may also be an expansion on past work in the field. Research projects can be used to develop further knowledge on a topic, or in the example of a school research project, they can be used to further a student's research prowess to prepare them for future jobs or reports. To test the validity of instruments, procedures, or experiments, research may replicate elements of prior projects or the project as a whole. The primary purposes of basic research are documentation, discovery, interpretation, or the research and development (R&D) of methods and systems for the advancement of human knowledge. Approaches to research depend on epistemologies, which vary considerably both within and between humanities and sciences. There are several forms of research: scientific, humanities, artistic, economic, social, business, marketing, practitioner research, life, technological, etc.
Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. Prostitution is sometimes described as sexual services, commercial sex or, colloquially, hooking. It is sometimes referred to euphemistically as "the world's oldest profession" in the English-speaking world. A person who works in this field is called a prostitute, and is a type of sex worker.
London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south-east of England, at the head of its 50-mile (80 km) estuary leading to the North Sea, London has been a major settlement for two millennia. Londinium was founded by the Romans. The City of London, London's ancient core − an area of just 1.12 square miles (2.9 km2) and colloquially known as the Square Mile − retains boundaries that follow closely its medieval limits. The City of Westminster is also an Inner London borough holding city status. Greater London is governed by the Mayor of London and the London Assembly.
Contents
The CCAT exists as a coalition of concerned citizens, faith and community groups who aim to stop the injustice of human trafficking for sexual exploitation within the London Borough of Croydon - one of the biggest 'ports' for human trafficking in the UK. 'We want that to stop and we want the people enslaved by this trade in human life to be brought to justice.' [2]
Injustice is a quality relating to unfairness or undeserved outcomes. The term may be applied in reference to a particular event or situation, or to a larger status quo. In Western philosophy and jurisprudence, injustice is very commonly—but not always—defined as either the absence or the opposite of justice.
Sexual slavery and sexual exploitation is attaching the right of ownership over one or more persons with the intent of coercing or otherwise forcing them to engage in sexual activities. This includes forced labor, reducing a person to a servile status and sex trafficking persons, such as the sexual trafficking of children.
The London Borough of Croydon is a London borough in south London, England and is part of Outer London. It covers an area of 87 km2 (33.6 sq mi) and is the largest London borough by population. It is the southernmost borough of London. At its centre is the historic town of Croydon from which the borough takes its name. Croydon is mentioned in Domesday Book, and from a small market town has expanded into one of the most populous areas on the fringe of London. Croydon is the civic centre of the borough. The borough is now one of London's leading business, financial and cultural centres, and its influence in entertainment and the arts contribute to its status as a major metropolitan centre.
In addition to raising awareness within the London Borough of Croydon and its surrounds, CCAT has also influenced policies nationally and locally. Key amongst these are contributing the U.K.'s ratification of the Treaty of Europe Convention on Human Trafficking (through their involvement with the Stop The Traffik Coalition), the U.K. government's tough new measures to reduced demand for trafficked women , and the withdraw of adult adverts from newspapers such as Newsquest . They have also helped to prioritise this issue for the local police and local council in the borough of Croydon. Most recently the work of The CCAT has been written up as a resource tool for communities to take action against trafficking. This resource called ACT is available on the Stop the Traffik website.
Awareness is the ability to directly know and perceive, to feel, or to be cognizant of events. More broadly, it is the state of being conscious of something. Another definition describes it as a state wherein a subject is aware of some information when that information is directly available to bring to bear in the direction of a wide range of behavioral processes. The concept is often synonymous to consciousness and is also understood as being consciousness itself.
A policy is a deliberate system of principles to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent, and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an organization. Policies can assist in both subjective and objective decision making. Policies to assist in subjective decision making usually assist senior management with decisions that must be based on the relative merits of a number of factors, and as a result are often hard to test objectively, e.g. work-life balance policy. In contrast policies to assist in objective decision making are usually operational in nature and can be objectively tested, e.g. password policy.
STOP THE TRAFFIK was founded in 2006 by Steve Chalke MBE as a campaign coalition which aims to bring an end to human trafficking worldwide. Initially STOP THE TRAFFIK was set up as a two-year campaign to coincide with the bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act 1807. The campaign intended to:
