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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European Convention on Action Against Human Trafficking to become UK law in April 2009

On 19th April 2009, the European Convention on Action Against Human Trafficking will become UK law, after the Government ratified the agreement last December.

The agreement promises improvements in the way that victims of trafficking are supported by agencies such as the police, and sets minimum standards for supporting the victims of trafficking and slavery in the UK.

Some of the key promises include:

• a new national referral mechanism, providing a nationally agreed process to help frontline staff identify victims of trafficking and offer them support
• strengthened arrangements for looking after victims, including a 45 day reflection and recovery period, and the possibility of a one-year residence permit for victims
• better support for victims in giving information to police, which will help authorities bring those who exploit them to justice.

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What is trafficking?

Trafficking is at the heart of much of the slavery in the UK today. As the term has already been used many times on our website, let’s define it.

In the context of Freedom Trust, when we talk about trafficking we mean the moving of people for the purpose of exploiting them.

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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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