Earlier this year I published Katya’s Story about a 12 year old girl trafficked from a Romanian
orphanage into domestic slavery in UK. Unfortunately this story about one of
the scourges of humanity on Planet Earth today, is not make-believe. The BBC actually
reported on a 12-year-old Roma girl trafficked into domestic slavery. I wanted
to highlight one of society’s great evils to pre teens to help them understand
and recognise it.
Criminal gangs are turning from drug dealing and adding
slavery and human trafficking to their criminal portfolios because it is so
lucrative. It is also wicked. Men, women and children of all ages are lured by
promises of a better life and making money from mainly Albania, Nigeria, Vietnam, Romania and Poland
into the UK. Some victims even come from the UK itself. They are nearly always
the most vulnerable or socially excluded groups with little or no family
support.
In the past when human trafficking or slavery was mentioned, most
people believed it was women who were trafficked into the sex trade. However
according to National Crime Agency (NCA) it’s no longer just the sex trade that victims are drawn
into but food processing, fishing,
agriculture, construction, domestic and care workers and car washes. Unfortunately trafficking into modern slavery is so
widespread that ordinary people would be unwittingly coming into contact with
victims every day
All this was highlighted as the main news story on BBC on 10th
August 2017. It seems that the UK is now waking up to the realisation that
modern slavery has spread it’s dirty fingers to many more areas of life than
previously thought. As more and more stones are lifted the murky world of
modern day slavery cases are increasingly coming into the light.
Fortunately the number of cases being reported is also
growing all the time. Charities such as Hope for Justice, A21 and Salvation
Army are doing fantastic work alongside the police in identifying, rescuing and
rehabilitating victims of this crime not only in UK but also in the victims’ countries
of origin. Legislation in the form of the Modern Slavery Act exists to
prosecute and convict traffickers.
The more public awareness, alongside education and training for
those on the frontline, the more likely it is that this scourge affecting
almost every large town and city in UK according to NCA, will be eradicated. A
tall order? Pie in the sky?
Nearly 200 years ago William Wilberforce and others trail
blazed and criminalised slavery, freeing thousands and touching nearly every
area of the globe. Today the challenge is as great but with greater
understanding and compassion I think it can be done.
It is my hope and prayer that my book Katya’s Story will turn from a novel of its time for pre teens to a
historical novel about a terrible blight of 21st century that has
been if not eliminated, then severely curtailed.
Some inspirational
stories
Henry works with Compassion UK to educate children and
parents in Ghana about trafficking within the country.
Tearfund’s work with Cambodian Hope Organisation in the fight
against human trafficking.
