Charity raises awareness of male victims of human trafficking

Thursday 26th April 2012 – 12.01am
Author: katy.d
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Since being awarded the contract by the Ministry for Justice, UK charity The Salvation Army has been raising the awareness of male victims of human trafficking.

The charity have been working to provide specialist support for adult victims of human trafficking in England and Wales, including safe accommodation, counselling, medical care, translation services and legal counselling.

While providing help to all victims of trafficking they have focused especially on the largely neglected male victims. A survey conducted by YouGov revealed that respondents thought that only 29% of those trafficked were male, the figure is actually 41%. The survey also revealed that participants believed 68% of victims were sexually exploited, when the real figure is 45%. Other reasons for human trafficking include labour exploitation, domestic servitude and rarely organ removal.

Crispin Blunt, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Prisons and Youth Justice within the Ministry of Justice, said:

"Human trafficking is often seen as predominantly affecting women- meaning that male victims are often overlooked and are forced to go without the support they so desperately need. The support The Salvation Army offer to trafficking victims, regardless of gender, was a key reason why they were awarded the contract. In the first six months of providing this service, The Salvation Army have shown that they are able to offer a high quality, tailored system of support to some of the most vulnerable victims, regardless of their country of origin, religion or gender."

The briefing from The Salvation Army reveals that most victims referred to them are from the police (44%), with the South East of England (54%) accounting for the majority of referrals. The victims helped have come from all over the world, including 58% from Eastern Europe, 25% from Africa, 12% from Asia and 4% are trafficked from within the UK.

Those helped by the Salvation Army have revealed that there are hundreds like them who have been fraudulently bought and sold, and that awareness of the crimes is relatively low.

[Image from Salvation Army]

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