Modern slavery - a scourge of our 21st century world

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 10^th 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 21^st 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.

https://www.compassionuk.org/blogs/an-anti-child-trafficking-warrior/?utm_campaign=Pray_with_us_Aug_8&utm_medium=email&utm_source=rightnow&utm_content=Pray_for_children_in_poverty_meet_the_anti_child_trafficking_warrior

Tearfund’s work with Cambodian Hope Organisation in the fight against human trafficking.

http://www.tearfund.org/en/latest/world_news/thousands_benefit_from_cambodia_trafficking_work/

My latest book

I am having a short break from writing about Nick North and his exciting adventures whilst I write another book for middle grade readers – those aged 10 – 12.

My latest book is about human trafficking. It is quite a brave and almost shocking topic to write about for children but it is children that are being trafficked every day.

All through Turkey refugees including children from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan are being ‘helped’ on their journey by traffickers far more interested in making a quick and exorbitant buck than in ensuring any safety to those risking their lives fleeing from war zones.

I don’t want to go into the rights and wrongs of mass immigration but I cannot help thinking that the European nations need to do far more than just allow these people to trail across Turkey and Europe at the prey of traffickers. Surely it would be better to register and vet migrants in refugee camps and then safely transport them to Western Europe rather than allowing them to make dangerous sea crossings in overloaded and inadequate small boats.

However it is not these traffickers that my story concerns but those who prey on vulnerable girls from impoverished situations in Eastern Europe. My story does not focus on the trade of girls into prostitution but on children trafficked into domestic slavery – a topic more appropriate for this age group.  I chose Eastern Europe rather than Asia where children are forced into factories as I know a little more about Romania than India, Pakistan or Bangladesh. 

Human trafficking is a wicked evil in our day and it is right that our children are exposed to its evils in a safe and suitable story.  Traffickers are vicious thugs who have no regard for human life other than to exploit it either for money or their own wicked aims.

The protagonist in my story is a young girl from a children’s home in Romania conned into domestic slavery because she is naïve and gullible and has no one to look out for her. She gets rescued and the story will have a happy ending. 

My aim is to enlighten pre teens to what is happening and hopefully inspire compassion in this age group for the poor and underprivileged.

Some good news: http://stories.imb.org/eurasia/photos/view/refugee-highway/1