Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale MP David Mundell attended a dramatic and thought provoking exhibition in the House of Commons highlighting the hidden nature of Modern Day Slavery.
The exhibition built by students from the Central St Martins College of Art depicts the four different kinds of slavery hidden away in our society. Curtains, doors, drawers and tea chests concealed the stories and photographs of survivors.
The survivors who shared their stories with the Human Trafficking Foundation to create the exhibition attended the opening. Among them was Cristina, a Romanian girl sold by her mother into prostitution in Birmingham when she was 16 and who narrowly escaped being snatched from her local authority care home by her traffickers. There was also a man, duped by a job advertised in Hungary, and on arrival here forced to work without pay, compelled to open a credit card account operated by his slave master, forced to claim benefits for non-existent children.
No one knows the real numbers involved. Yet, the Serious Organized Crime Agency knows that at least 2,000 victims are found each year. However, they believe that is the tip of the iceberg and that for every victim found, another ten remain hidden. The Human Trafficking Foundation estimates that there are up to 20,000 slaves in the cities, towns and villages of the UK.
Of these victims that have come to light, 6% are known to have come from Scotland.
Commenting David Mundell MP said: “As a result of the exhibition, I want to ensure that everyone in my constituency is more alert to the signs of modern day slavery and recognise its true human cost. I hope students in schools, public service workers, the police, as well as those in private business will join me in this task. Politicians off all parties must do more to look into this issue and support those affected.”
Anthony Steen, Chairman of the Human Trafficking Foundation said: “What is amazing is that trafficked children, unlike adults, are offered no special care in spite of what they have been through. They have no safe haven since in local authority care hundreds of trafficked children go missing each year.”
Speaking at the opening of the exhibition, the Prime Minister David Cameron said that the ‘government had to be more coordinated’ in the fight against modern day slavery and that “proper priority had to be given to tackling the massive organised criminal industry”.