Slavery in our time! Are we today’s human statues?

To mark the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition on 23 August, we’ve asked Suzette Jones from the Surrey Anti Slavery Partnership (and who used to work for the Diocese) to share some information about modern slavery, to aid our awareness. 

The Global Slavery Index estimates 136,000, men, women, and children are slaves in the UK today. ‘Modern slavery’ is an umbrella term for various forms of slavery, trafficking of human beings and their exploitation. A complex and largely hidden crime, it strips victims of dignity and basic human rights.

At the core of this crime is deception. Survivors tell stories of being sold a better life. Often vulnerable, coming from areas where there is little possibility of work and/or education, victims are offered a job, a chance to make money and build a new life for themselves. Those who offer them this opportunity may organise their travel to a different town or country, controlling every aspect of their life. They are recruited, transported and transferred for the sole purpose of exploitation.

Victims are found in agriculture, construction, car washes, nail bars, domestic servitude, service industry, sexual exploitation and a variety of criminal behaviours. While a host of reasons stops victims speaking out, indicators of slavery and exploitation may include a combination of factors, such as injuries, inadequate clothing, no social interaction and an ever-changing work force.

Regularly, cases of child trafficking and exploitation are identified throughout the country via social services, police, immigration, health and education. Most victims see this as an opportunity to earn money, believing they can stay in control, which they cannot.

Many houses have multiple occupancy, but a property where people don’t appear to sleep, arrive and leave throughout the day, has irregular visitors, minibuses or vans outside at unusual hours could be slave accommodation, often hidden in containers, caravans, tents and sheds. People are trafficked and enslaved for financial gain because slavery is a high profit, low risk crime; serious organised criminality sits behind exploitation and forced labour.

Modern slavery is on our doorsteps, it’s in rural areas, leafy avenues of suburbia, town centres, in the services we use, what we buy, who delivers them. We can take down the statues of the past but let’s not become statues of today. Tell your children, your grandchildren of today’s slaves, the 136,000 living in our communities. Modern Slavery Helpline - 08000 121 700

A prayer for releasing Hidden Voices
The Rt Revd Dr Alastair Redfern

Heavenly Father, who sees the unseen and notices the unnoticed,

help each of us to hear the hidden voices of those

who pray for release from slavery and exploitation,

so that we may give ourselves more fully

to the service of your saving love,

and be strengthened together as agents

for your healing and hope through Jesus Christ,

who himself came to serve as a slave,

so, to bring freedom and grace to all.  Amen

 Suzette Jones, Surrey Antislavery Partnership