ECPAT UK and The Body Shop with the support of stars from around the world including Yoko Ono, Sienna Miller, Robert Pattinson and Sir Ben Kingsley launched a petition calling for governments to put the safety and wellbeing of young victims of trafficking at the heart of their plans.

New research out today shows that 1.2 million children and young people are trafficked every year. While trafficking for sexual exploitation remains the most common form, children are also trafficked for other types of abuse including labour exploitation, forced participation in criminal activities, forced marriage, illegal adoption and domestic servitude.

Image Courtesy: www.facebook.com/thebodyshopuk

To combat this crisis, The Body Shop and ECPAT have partnered in a three year global campaign to stop the trafficking of children and young people, uphold their rights to be protected from exploitation and inspire long-term change to strengthen the protection offered to these children and young people.

They are inviting public to sign the petition right now at www.thebodyshop.com/stop or sign in any The Body Shop store. The Stop Sex Trafficking of Children and Young People Petition will be activated in some 66 countries around the world. The UK section will be delivered to the Prime Minister in 2011.

The campaign has already secured a raft of high level support from celebrities including Rob Lowe, Matt LeBlanc, Robert Pattinson, Sienna Miller, Joanna Lumley, Yoko Ono, Naomi Campbell, Sir Ben Kingsley, Claudia Winkleman, Jo Wood, and Craig David, who all submitted their handprints to support the campaign. The consumers are invited to come to the brand’s shops and join in by signing the petition and create their own handprints.