There are an estimated 21 million women, men and children struggling in debt bondage, toiling against their will as forced labourers, or enduring the horror of sex trafficking. Pexels. No rights reserved.
In 1949 the United Nations adopted the first legally binding international instrument on human trafficking - the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others. Yet, 67 years later, there are an estimated 21 million women, men and children struggling in debt bondage, toiling against their will as forced labourers, or enduring the horror of sex trafficking.The UK is seeing a year on year increase in the number of victims of trafficking being reported to official channels.
It is all too easy in the United Kingdom to think that modern slavery occurs somewhere else, in other countries, but surely not here in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The reality is very different. The UK is seeing a year on year increase in the number of victims of trafficking being reported to official channels. In 2015, the number of potential victims referred to in the National Referral Mechanism was 3,266 – a 40% increase on 2014. But as modern slavery is a “hidden crime”, there are likely many thousands more victims who cannot access the help needed to escape exploitation. Quite simply, far too many slip through the net.
