On March 15th 2010, we launched the “Red Card Campaign, World Cup 2010: Disqualifying Human Trafficking inAfrica,” a critical awareness strategy with a focus on spreading a message about human trafficking during the world cup, in countries throughout the African continent, not just those bordering South Africa, the host country itself.

The symbol of the campaign, a “red card” represents red cards given to soccer players who severely violate the rules of the game, and are disqualified from further participation. By using this symbol, we were sending a simple message, that “human trafficking of Africans had no place at the 2010 World Cup and beyond, and should therefore be disqualified.” The campaign received tremendous support: over 6,000 people on Twitter and Facebook participated by sharing the information and re-tweeting the campaign posters. A week prior to the World Cup kick off, we launched “Facebook goes Red-card” and asked members to change their profile picture to our red-card to take a stand against human trafficking during the event. The response was overwhelming—approximately 1,000 people changed their profile pictures in support of this effort. Our website, which featured a red-card campaign page, provided information on 1) Safety tips to note to avoid human trafficking; 2) How to identify a trafficked person, and helpline numbers to call in South Africa and 3) Tips for service providers in the proper handling of victims of trafficking. The site received thousands of hits per day from all over the world. I am also pleased to announce that preliminary reports of the trafficking situation during the worldcup indicate that visitors were more interested in visiting museums, going on safaris and touring South Africa than buying sex. We are confident that our campaign contributed significantly to prevention efforts. We are honored to have been prominently featured in a number of publications, newsletters and blogs. Our highest recognition came from the US Department of State’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (G-Tip). They featured a full color, full page (inner back cover) of our Red Card in the 2010 Trafficking in Persons Report. Please see below for links to the publications that featured our campaign.

Red Card Campaign’s Notable Features/Endorsements

• 2010 U.S State Department Trafficking in Persons Report (inner back cover) Full Page Feature (appears in the hard copy not the online version, please see the attached photo): 

• UN-GIFT website: http ://ungift.org/ungift/en/stories/getting-ready-for-the-world-cup.html

• The Code Newsletter: http ://www.thecode.org/news/CC-Newsletter-23-100419.pdf

• Pambazuka News:  http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/63300

• Linx Productions:  http://www.linxproductions.com/

• Development Works Blog:  http://www.developmentworks.co.za/blog/red-cards-in-the-2010-fifa-world-cup-and-civil-society/#comments

• Mighty African Blog  http://mightyafrican.blogspot.com/2010/04/red-card-campaign-world-cup-2010.html

• Abolitionist JB Blog  http://abolitionistjb.blogspot.com/2010/03/red-card-campaign-wolrd-cup-2010.html