Anti-Slavery Day 2024

Friday 18th October marks Anti-Slavery Day, when we draw attention to victims of human trafficking and modern slavery around the world.

Human trafficking goes on all around us and it’s too easy to ignore. Victims are often not recognised, or not believed. And all too often, the criminal justice system prosecutes those it should be protecting.

Every victim experience is unique, which is why proper training is essential so that those in law enforcement, charities, NGOs and civil society generally know how to recognise exploitation.

Specialist Policing Consultancy has interviewed hundreds of victims of trafficking, slavery and exploitation. Today we would like to draw attention to some of those victim experiences by sharing just a few of the harrowing details from recent cases we have worked on – all of whom were prosecuted for the drug dealing they were forced to carry out.

– A woman in her 40s living in London who was coerced by a local gang into taking heroin and crack cocaine until she was addicted, thus putting her in a cycle of debt bondage. She was then exploited by the gang for sex. She was regularly raped, sometimes over 20 times each day. Most disturbingly, the gang filmed her being raped and sent the video to her teenage son and her mother.

– A young man who was exploited by a County Lines gang from the age of 16, only to be arrested and imprisoned. He was forced by the gang to bank such a large quantity of drugs that he still required medical attention whilst in prison.

– A man in his 60s who was a victim of cuckooing. He was targeted by a gang who regularly beat him and gave him crack cocaine to keep him submissive whilst they took over his home and sold drugs from it. He informed us about his traumatic life including sexual abuse as a child, which led to him relying on drugs to cope with his trauma. This was when he was targeted by the gang.

Sadly, too many people have experiences like these.

Anti-Slavery Day reminds us that eradicating human trafficking should be both a UK and a global priority.

Thank you to all the hundreds of victims who have trusted us with their life stories and thank you to our team who work so hard so that victims can be recognised and receive justice.