Catherine Trinder explores why this is one bargain we should not be celebrating
At secondary school I vaguely remember learning about the slave trade. It was slotted casually between Sex Education and Spanish like the awkward cousin at Christmas dinner; something to do with colonialism, horrifying living conditions and some man called Wilberforce. And that was that. The slave trade was horrible, yes, but it had now been abolished and everybody got their proverbial happy ending. Shockingly it wasn’t until recently that I realised this wasn’t quite the case. Last summer I had the fortune (if you can call it that) of meeting someone who opened my eyes to the scale of modern-day slavery (read: Human Trafficking). Whilst the terminology may be new and different I discovered that a rose by any other name still smells of a horrifying disregard for human rights.
Human Trafficking involves the transportation and recruitment of people against their will, using force, threats and deception, and it is illegal everywhere in the world. The last place to abolish it was the African state of Mauritania in 1981 and it was abolished way back in 1834 in England. And yet, as we move through 2011 it is the fastest growing form of international crime. There are an estimated 27 million people being used as slaves right now; 1 in every 250 people. These figures mean that there are more slaves in the world than ever.
Women and children make up the majority of those being trafficked; they are forced into prostitution, slave labour and domestic servitude. Children under the age of 10 are forced to be soldiers and are taught how to kill, whilst their contemporaries paint potatoes and make rockets from Fairy Liquid bottles. Meanwhile the world goes on. The X Factor continues to monopolise our TV sets and the media continues to obsess over which celebrity is piling on the pounds. No one stops in outrage. No one protests in the streets. No one throws fire extinguishers off roofs for these people’s rights.
The average price for a slave is estimated at just $90 (approx. £57), and the estimated annual profit from trafficking is $31.6 billion. And it’s not just in less developed countries that human trafficking occurs; the Home Office has estimated that 360 children are trafficked into the UK every year. We ourselves may be blissfully and ignorantly complicit in helping human trafficking to continue. How many of you ate Shreddies for breakfast this morning? Received a box of Quality Street for Chirstmas? Ignored the ad campaign and kept your last Rolo all to yourself? Behind those harmless knitting nannas, Nestlé had been hiding a dark secret, as BBC’s Panorama revealed last year when they exposed them for receiving cocoa from trafficked peoples. Since then Nestlé have bowed to pressure and announced in December that their four-fingered Kitkats would be Fair Trade. How kind of them to make 1.1% of their products Fair Trade. And shocking as it may seem that a huge international corporation has been profiting from human trafficking, they are not the only ones.
Back in 2004 Marks & Spencer were accused of using trafficked peoples to pick daffodils for them where the victims were allegedly forced to work 10-hour days and given dog food to eat. In the USA child slavery has been linked to the Super Bowl, the iconic American event.
These stories should shock and appal us, and yet in this media generation we have become numb to such atrocities. Two people who chose not to ignore these inconvenient truths are Natalie Menezes and Heather Linnane, founders of the newly-formed charity IDEE (Initiative for Development, Education and Empowerment) which is working in Gabon to help rehabilitate victims of slavery. I spoke to Natalie to find out a little more about the work that IDEE is doing.
Why did you set up IDEE? Why is the issue of human trafficking so important?
There is no part of the world that is untouched by the scourge of human trafficking. Men, women and children are suffering unthinkably across the globe and the more we speak out and act against it, the more likely we are to see the re-abolition of slavery in our lifetime. We had always wanted to do something that mattered, something that would leave a trace but it took the belief of one man (and his promise of support) to turn our musings into reality.
What does IDEE do to help victims of human trafficking?
Our initiative focuses on empowerment through education, with a strong focus on IT, enterprise and global citizenship. The goal of IDEE is to open a space in which our students can heal, learn and reclaim their identity (one of the first things taken from them in branding them as ‘SLAVE’). Increasingly, government and other NGOs in Gabon have been repatriating trafficked persons. However, processes of repatriation are costly and complex and repatriated slaves are often abandoned and forgotten. Without support they end up back in the sex trade, in forced labour, begging, imprisonment or worse.
IDEE is hoping to achieve 3 things:
1) To become a platform for speaking out against human trafficking by uniting previously trafficked persons with ordinary people like you and I.
2) To build learning centres which provide an integrated education (including ESL, the arts, Enterprise & Citizenship Education) to empower our students, repatriated ex-slaves in Gabon. We believe in the power of education and rehabilitation to allow our students to reclaim their identity and agency and make lives for themselves beyond the slave trade.
3) And to ensure that long term, these centres are self-sustainable. We believe in sustainable development and empowerment, not aid.
What can ordinary people do to help?
Something everyone can do today is raise awareness by educating themselves and others on the issue. One of the biggest challenges we face is that people simply aren't aware that modern day slavery is still happening at the level it is, and that every country is affected. We also call ordinary people to Join the Project @ www.ideeproject.org or show solidarity @ www.facebook.com/theIDEEproject. Donations are also always appreciated.
A letter recently came into Natalie’s possession torn from the diary of an Eritrean woman who was being forced to work as a prostitute in Dubai. Whilst the statistics may be easy to ignore it is much harder to ignore an individual’s cry for help, particularly one as harrowing as this. It is dated 12/11/2010, just two months ago. In broken English she writes:
“I think for my mother for my brother...it’s too much for me. How can solve. I ask you!!! Give me answer? Is this it? I really hate my life. I never have rest. I am tired and tired. I have a lot of things in my heart. My Lord is big...I still have big hope from God. In this week. I lost a lot of things. I will never forget God. Please help me. I have a lot of thinking still now...what can I do. I have a lot of problem in my life. I still struggle... My mind is disturbing. I don’t know what to do. When I was in my country the same thing. I change country the same thing. God please help me.”
Unfortunately this woman is still out there, trapped in this situation, along with millions of others. I’m not suggesting we all drop our studies to run out and work for a charity but it is food for thought. The question that IDEE is asking is “What makes you free?” Making a great cup of coffee, singing in the shower, hugging a friend; whatever it is you probably wouldn’t realise how much it meant unless it was taken away.
If you’re interested in learning more about Modern-Day Slavery Gemma Wolfes from Anti-Slavery International is speaking at Clare College on Wednesday 9th March at 7.30.
Source: Varsity Online
Slaves now only £57! | Varsity Online
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