28/6/20006

People Trafficking: The New Slave Trade

The Padded Cell Theatre Company recently presented ‘Damaged’, which dissects the lives of two women trafficked into Britain for the purpose of prostitution. Helen Grey talked to the play’s writer and director Scott Morgan about the rise of modern day slavery.

Scott Morgan wanted to write a play from the perspective of someone who has been trafficked and to depict the ordeal through their eyes. “Human trafficking is only now getting the media attention it needs,” Scott says. “When I first came up with the idea of “Damaged” last year there wasn’t a lot of information on the subject. I felt this was something I could write about, not only because it has a human story to it, but also because this problem is happening on such a global scale and people can relate to it".

According to Business Travellers Against Human Trafficking: “trafficking happens when a woman, child or man is deceived, coerced or forced into going with a trafficker who then sells them into a situation of unwilling prostitution or forced labour. They find themselves in a position of servitude and slavery”. The victims are often transported across national borders. Usually the trafficker will approach vulnerable people living in poverty and offer to take them to the west and find them employment as a labourer or waitress.The trafficker then takes care of all travel arrangements and travel documents, though the latter are often false. Once the victims have arrived in the west, the trafficker demands repayment for the travel costs and passport. The women are often then forced into prostitution and the men into slave labour until the debt is paid. However a large proportion of their money is taken from them, making the repayment of the dept almost impossible. The trafficked people are too afraid to run away as they fear the traffickers will harm their families and they do not approach the police for fear of deportation. They have become modern day slaves.

The numbers of those trafficked is uncertain, though the United Nations estimates that between 600,000 and 800,000 women and children are trafficked across borders every year. What is known is that it is women and children who are the most likely victims of trafficking and that the trade is constantly increasing. In 2001, Lydie Err of the Luxembourg Socialist Group, told the Council of Europe that 78% of women victims of trafficking were from central or eastern Europe and that “trafficking is a human rights issue: it entails the violation of women’s dignity and integrity, their freedom of movement and, in some cases, their right to life. As far as the individual is concerned, it effects the very foundation of human rights: the equal dignity of all human beings.”

When writing ‘Damaged’, Scott Morgan researched his play through correspondence with The Poppy Project, an organization that deals solely with trafficked women and helps them through counseling and short-term housing. “Because trafficked women find it difficult to trust anyone after their experience, even disclosing information to their social worker is often very painful for them. I didn’t speak to any trafficked women directly. Instead, we were allowed to look at detailed information about living conditions, how they were brought into the country and everyday life as a sex slave, which was invaluable to my research". He adds: “Without the help of The Poppy Project this play wouldn’t have happened, and I am very grateful to them for that.”

Scott says he has been deeply affected by the writing and research of the play. “You read about what these women and girls have gone through, and to say it doesn’t affect you in any way is just rubbish”. Rosa - whose testimony is published by Slavery Still Exists - says: “When I was fourteen, a man came to my parents house in Veracruz, Mexico and asked me if I was interested in making money in the United States. He said I could make many times as much money doing the same things that I was doing in Mexico. A week later I was smuggled into the United States through Texas to Orlando. It was then the men told me that my employment would consist of having sex with men for money. I had never had sex before and had never imagined selling my body. Because I was a virgin, the men decided to initiate me by raping me again and again to teach me how to have sex”. Rosa continues: “Although the men were supposed to wear condoms, some didn’t, so I eventually became pregnant and was forced to have an abortion. They sent me back to the brothel almost immediately. I cannot forget what has happened. I find it nearly impossible to trust people. I still feel shame.”

Scott wants the audience to do a lot of thinking during his play. “I hope the audience will want to do more after watching the play. I want then to be angry at what is happening in this country, in this very city". Operation Pentameter - which is a nationwide campaign to tackle the illegal exploration of trafficking victims through the co-operation between the police, the travel industry and the government, has shed light on the level of trafficking in Britain. A Guardian report published in May of this year revealed that traffickers are being paid as much as £8,000 a victim and police across the country have discovered an increasing number of young women being held in suburban houses. The campaign aims to prevent sexual exploitation by targeting potential victims as they arrive in the UK and urging them to contact a help line.

However the operation has come in for some criticism. Kate Allen of Amnesty international says: “Operation Pentameter’s awareness-raising measures are a step in the right direction but we also need to see much greater protection of trafficking victims when they are detected. Currently victims of trafficking have almost no rights in the UK. In the eyes of the law they are simply illegal immigrants and are detained and deported". There have been calls from Amnesty International and UNICEF for the UK government to sign up to the Council Of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings. This would help prevent trafficking and prosecute the traffickers by raising the awareness for persons vulnerable to trafficking; ensuring victims of trafficking are seen as such in order to avoid police and public authorities treating them as illegal migrants or criminals; and making trafficking a criminal offence so traffickers and their accomplices will therefore be prosecuted.

“The Police and Immigration service need to work closely with agencies such as The Poppy Project and Amnesty International to help understand the current situation", Scott told me. "Because this is happening on a global scale, education is the most important thing of all. Actually educating women, no matter what their background, on what could potentially happen". He concludes: “It is utterly unacceptable for human trafficking to exist. Perhaps some women who have been trafficked could find the strength to talk about it and help put an end to it.”

If you would like to write to your MP and urge them to sign up to the Council Of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings visit: www.unicef.org.uk/campaigns/take_action

To read a review of the play Damaged click here

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