A campaign to put an end to modern-day slavery has been launched by the Hull Daily Mail.

The newspaper has set up a petition calling on world leaders to end slavery in its many forms - and the first person to sign it was William Wilberforce, a direct descendant of the former Hull MP of the same name who campaigned to abolish the British slave trade almost 200 years ago.

The Fight for Freedom campaign supports the work of Anti-Slavery International, the world's oldest international human rights organisation.

It has been launched in the run-up to the Wilberforce 2007 celebrations - the official bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade - which will take place in Hull on March 25 next year.

Launching the campaign, the Mail reported how slavery is still alive in the 21st century in the forms of human trafficking and forced, bonded and child labour, and it is estimated there are more than 27m people throughout the world are forced to live as modern-day slaves.

Mail editor John Meehan said: "Two hundred years ago people in East Yorkshire rallied behind William Wilberforce in his campaign to end the transatlantic slave trade.

"Today our readers can follow their example and play their part in combating modern-day slavery."

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