Anti-Slavery tells horrific story of sex slaves in London

Anti-Slavery International’s coverage of the High Court’s landmark decision to compensate four Moldovan women who were trafficked into the UK and foced to work as slaves in London’s brothels provides a horrific account of slavery going on in the UK today. We’ve reproduced the content below from Anti Slavery International’s website.

Anti-Slavery International welcomes the landmark decision by the High Court yesterday (19 February 2009) to compensate four Moldovan women trafficked into forced prostitution in the UK with more than £600,000 in damages, and calls for the compensation of trafficked people to become part of mainstream criminal proceedings.

The women, all in their twenties, were tricked into leaving Moldova with the promise of finding work as dancers. Each borrowed £20,000 upfront from the criminal gang for bringing them to Britain.

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Victims suffer when slavery slips through the net

Despite the truth about slavery in the UK being published widely and discussed in parliament earlier this month, it appears that the victims of slavery often continue to be treated as criminals by the UK justice system.

In this amazingly well-connected world of information, it’s tragic to see how often slavery in the UK seems to literally slip through the net. It could be that facing up to the truth about slavery is just too difficult to bear – after all, we like to think it was erradicated two hundred years ago don’t we?

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UK slavery stories & pictures

The slavery taking place in the UK today is hidden from the everyday lives of most people, except for glimpses if you read between the lines of stories in the news. The true stories of the victims of slavery are rarely told.

Freedom Trust will tell the stories as we hear them, to continue to raise awareness of the truth about slavery in the Uk and its thousands of victims.

We’ll also publish stories from recent years as we learn more about them or discover new resources.

In 2007, photojournalist agency Panos Pictures put together an exhibition in St Paul’s Cathedral illustrating stories of slavery in the UK and its victims. You can see some of the photos and stories of slavery in the UK here.

Slavery hidden on your doorstep

Picture any house in a nice suburb of your town in the UK. It might be the house next door to you – your neighbours. The curtains are kept closed, and you’re not even sure if anybody lives there. People come and go from time to time.

Inside lies a shocking secret you never thought possible. Not in the UK. Not on your doorstep.

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Slavery in the UK is an international issue

It is difficult to say just how many victims of slavery live in the UK. Whilst the UK slave population represents just a small portion of the millions of slaves around the world, slavery in the UK is an international issue.  

At the heart of many of the systems that support slavery in the UK is people trafficking. That’s not only the illegal movement of people across international borders – it’s often legal but carried out in a way that traps its victims. There are many forms of people trafficking, but they regularly involve deception, debt, and the control of vulnerable people by others – the very things that can lead to slavery.

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Working to end slavery

One of our primary objectives is working to end slavery today, starting in the UK.

How will we do this?

Researching & defining

We will work to discover who are the victims of slavery in the UK today, what are its causes, who is behind it, what can be done to end it.

Raising awareness

We will raise awareness about slavery in the UK today. We will tell the stories of pain, suffering and poverty and we will expose the truth about the slavery that exists in the UK’s neighbourhoods, cities, and around the nation.

Campaigning

We will do everything we can to bring about changes to the systems that allow slavery to exist in the UK today. We will campaign to Governments and organisations that can bring about change, and we will work alongside others who are already campaigning to end slavery.