Church tackles the scourge of slavery and sexploitation

THE CHURCH of England is taking on the scourge of modern slavery and child exploitation with a new campaign to help victims.

Staff and volunteers are being trained to recognise the signs of organised gangs preying on vulnerable people and forcing them into a life of danger and misery.

Gangs are targeting soup kitchens, drop-in centres and homeless shelters to snatch people away for street begging, forced labour, peddling drugs, cultivating cannabis farms and prostitution.

Victims of human trafficking and modern slavery have risen tenfold over five years, with about 2,500 recorded cases of children under 18 forced into illegal activity.

Personal despair is compounded by the social and economic cost of dealing with sexual exploitation reaching £1billion a year, according to National Audit Office estimates.

The rise has created a hidden army of slaves working in takeaway food outlets, nail bars, car washes, massage parlours and private homes. Some are forced into county lines drug pushing. Official figures show the number of victims has risen from 13,000 in 2013 to 136,000 last year, but the Church believes the numbers could be even higher.

The National Crime Agency logged a 100 per cent increase in the number of UK modern slavery victims in 2018, while the Salvation Army reported a 58 per cent increase in the number of British people it helped last year.

“Modern slavery is real and is happening in our communities,” said Caroline Virgo, of the Clewer JESUS came saying that he proclaimed freedom for the captives.the Clewer Initiative is working through the Church to declare that freedom for all who are enslaved in our country.

Everyone is shocked when they hear there are an estimated 136,000 slaves in the UK.WE cannot believe that our sleepy village or bustling town could be home to the exploited.

Yet it is true.the victims of modern slavery are hidden in plain sight – washing cars, painting nails, tarmacking driveways – but our ignorance means we don’t see them.

Through the Clewer Initiative we are experiencing what can happen when churches

Initiative, the church’s campaign to raise awareness and connect charities supporting the vulnerable.

The initiative – funded by the Community of St John the Baptist, formerly known as the Clewer Sisters – runs education sessions for staff and volunteers and creates support networks to make it easier for victims to escape gangs and abusers.

“The Church has got a good history of social action but maybe this is the first time we have tackled organised crime which needs a lot of reflection and safeguarding,” and communities open their eyes and say “we see you” to the exploited.

We live in a time of stretched public services. The vulnerable fall through the cracks.the Church is able to provide support, embedded in the community, that not only helps to care for those who have become victims but also protects those most at risk.

Williamwilberforce, who led the anti-slave trade movement in the 18th century, said:

“You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.”

We choose to look directly at the horror of modern slavery and do all we can to end it.

Mrs Vigo said. “We run 33,000 social action projects around the UK so we do have the skills.”

David Maggs, mission team leader with the diocese of Bath and Wells, runs training sessions across south-west England.

“We have evidence of people coming into projects and homeless shelters and whisking people away to do work and then not even dropping them back in their own town,” he said.

“Children and women are being traded and moved around and, if you include county lines drug dealing

and child sexual exploitation, the issue is huge. No one should be enslaved and everyone should have their freedoms.”

Mr Maggs told of a recent success helping a woman with significant medical issues who had been forced to work long hours in food production while being kept in squalid conditions in a caravan.

She had been abandoned when she fell ill but a Church team found her accommodation and support.

● If you have information or need support or advice, call the modern slavery helpline on 08000 121 700.