At the Greenbelt Festival press conference pop star DANIEL BEDINGFIELD fielded questions from a bevy of journalists and broadcasters. Here's what he said.

Absolutely. But we have to begin. If people do not know that people trafficking is an issue, then that has to be addressed first and then the politicians have to know that it's an issue. Then as a country we can begin to work towards reform. Wilberforce took a long time; it will take a lot of time reforming British society. But it starts with knowing that there's a problem and beginning to incline your mind to it. So the restrictions of how government can and will change things is down to government. We just have to let them know that it's got to be done. Better men and women than I are thinking about this, and are working on how to sort this out. But this is an issue. It's an issue I can talk about. I really don't know a lot about the politics of this issue, but I do understand social issues.and that's what I'm passionate about.

What practical things will you be doing yourself to raise the issue of people trafficking?

Practically.things like this (coming to Greenbelt). There are also all the other charities that are involved in Stop The Traffik; they're telling everybody about this. Then there are going to be some high profile concerts. There'll be one in London and one in New York - in Times Square. There are a number of other places around the world that are showing an interest in doing something at the same time - Freedom Day is 25th March 2007; whether the concerts will take place then or during the summer, I'm not quite sure. But Freedom Day is going to be a major focal point. What we want to happen on Freedom Day is to get all the local schools, churches, mosques, etc to do something; get as many cards signed as they can; make a big, big deal in their neighbourhoods; get as many people as they can and make it a big issue. It's really not going to work if it's just a bunch of famous celebrities going, 'I'm gonna save the world because you listen to me, and by listening to me you vicariously can.' The anti-people trafficking movement has got to be a groundswell of people. This is a people's issue. It's people's daughters and mothers who are caught up in this and it is happening right now.

Will the concerts be free?

I don't know. The thing is, if we did raise money - which we are going to, for fighting trafficking and its effects - there's a lot that needs to be done with that money. However, the money is a secondary issue. It's the awareness that is the big thing.

What are the slavery figures?

You have to be careful with the words 'slave' and 'trafficked'. I don't know why - it's a political issue. But there are definitely more people enslaved and being trafficked today than there were when slavery was abolished 200 years ago.

Has your faith been a motivation to you to get involved in this work?

The very basis of my faith is a love for my fellow human beings as I love myself and God. The intrinsic overwhelming value of one human life, and of kindness, and of justice is deeply rooted in the core of every fibre of me. (I'm being very dramatic. Unfortunately I'm an artist; I'm just a very dramatic person.) So yes, my faith is very central to that feeling that human beings are very valuable. And we can't allow trafficking to happen.

There is a huge amount of drug abuse going on in the pop and rock music world. The source of most of the illegal drugs is organised crime which also has a lot of involvement in people trafficking. Do you tell other artists how their drug use is intertwined with trafficking?

Do I tell someone, 'Don't take that awesome Charlie that's going to make your night fantastic, because there might be some trafficking involved'? I don't know if that's going to be a powerful enough message to my mates who are taking a lot of drugs. It is linked - but it's also linked to poverty and to deeply rooted governmental corruption on a major level. It's all very convoluted. The reason we've chosen the sex industry as one of the primary focuses is that the vast majority of trafficking is sex-related. There's also a huge amount of sweatshop action; then there are drug mules. I'm very aware of the connections but I don't think that would be the main thrust of my message.

Is the campaign looking solely at the effects of trafficking abroad, or are we looking at it in the UK as well?

That comes out of the dossier we're going to have on each country. There are so many issues in Britain related to trafficking that need to be addressed. My best friend Johnny, who works in the Home Office, has just had to send a bunch of girls home because that's what our law demands: we send them right back to the danger they've fled from. They probably get sent back in right away, back into slavery. That happens all the time. There are so many different ways we need to address this issue here in England, and in America too. So yes, we'll be specifically focusing on each country.

This really relies on Stop The Traffik's resources because we have such a small staff. We have four workers - and we're struggling to pay our wages now! If we had more money, we'd have more staff and we could do a lot more. We're not relying on celebrity. A lot more can be done and will be done; we just need funding.