Walking for Action

On Saturday, October 14th 2017, over 140 people dressed up in dark clothes and walked silently around the city of Maastricht drawing attention to an important topic: human slavery.

The Walk for Freedom, event which took place in more than 40 countries, was organized by A21 and had as its main goal to alert modern society that slavery still exists. According to the Global Slavery Index, there are 45.8 million people who are currently subject to some kind of slavery around the world today. Although this number is high, tackling the issue without the support of the public can be troublesome. Marlies Ruitenberg, from Sittard, is the organizer of Walk for Freedom Maastricht. When asked if she thought there was an impact in the community, she replied that there was a great impact on the “people that marched and also in the people that saw silent faces crossing the streets.” Natascha van Broekhuizen, from Sittard, who brought her daughter to the march, said, “You could see people in the streets watching surprised.”

While the number of people involved in human trafficking is increasing, walks and marches like this are essential to turn awareness into action.

Pictures’ credit: Leonardo Sena