SOUTH East Cambridgeshire MP Jim Paice joined campaigners outside 10 Downing Street on Monday to hand in a petition calling on more protection for sex traffic trade victims. Those who signed the petition want the Government to provide more resources to he

SOUTH East Cambridgeshire MP Jim Paice joined campaigners outside 10 Downing Street on Monday to hand in a petition calling on more protection for sex traffic trade victims.

Those who signed the petition want the Government to provide more resources to help and protect women and girls trafficked from outside and within the UK.

Members of Churches Together in Ely (CTIE) who have launched a Stop The Traffik campaign submitted 1,100 signatures in a bid to help victims forced into the sex trade.

Ben Jubb, chairman of CTIE Anti-Slavery Committee, said: "Victims of trafficking are among the most vulnerable in our society - we cannot pretend that they do not exist and do nothing.

"Providing a place of sanctuary and recovery for them is the key to cracking this evil."

It has been estimated that there could be as many as 18,000 trafficking victims being forced to work as prostitutes in the UK.

Cambridgeshire police arrested 41 people and rescued 12 victims in their latest campaign to target human trafficking for the sex trade.

Altogether 167 victims have been rescued and 528 traffickers arrested by police forces across the country in the latest crackdown.

Mr Paice added: "The severity and increasing prevalence of people trafficking in the UK is a national disgrace."

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