Tidy Towns can fight trafficking
TIDY towns volunteers are on the frontline in the fight against modern day human slavery.
They recently invited the Irish anti-human trafficking charity Invisible Traffick to give a talk on the issue to raise awareness of signs of trafficking among their volunteers.
“Everybody can play a part. Have the conversations, share us on social media, get the word out there. Get to learn the signs and indicators of slavery,” Invisible Traffick Irish Co- Ordinator Mary McSharry told this newspaper.
The charity has just opened their Irish HQ in Sligo town and were visited by US human trafficking campaigner Victoria Stanek last week.
Stanek visited Ireland straight after trips to Nepal and Sri Lanka on an international fact finding mission on human trafficking.
She spent several weeks working with the UK HQ of Invisible Traffick in Belfast before joining Invisible Traffick Irish Co- Ordinator Mary McSharry at the new Irish HQ in Sligo town.
“I wanted to learn different methods and come at it as a team and see how we could learn from each other,” said Stanek.
“I’m learning so much about the different policies in place here. I think it’s really interesting to see the particular vulnerability of Ireland as an island but I do like to see what Invisible Traffick is doing, especially with their funding problems.
“Labour Trafficking is really prevalent here in fisheries, car washes, nail bars,” Mary told The Sligo Champion.
“Labour trafficking is a huge issue in Nepal and in the Dhar- jeeling area of India where the plantation owners own all the land and the housing. Workers have to live in the homes provided which means the homes don’t get upkeep.
“It’s usually a ton of people packed into two rooms with no electricity or running water. The owners even own the liquor stores so there’s a lot of alcoholism on the plantation and the owner has no interest solving the problem because they’re making a profit off it,” she said.
www.invisibletraffick. org