DOHA: In its quest to support important local and international research endeavours that impact the family as a whole, the Doha International Institute for Family Studies and Development (DIIFSD) has co-funded a prominent report by The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) in the United Kingdom. The report, entitled ‘It Happens Here,’ brought to light the prevalence of modern day slavery and human trafficking in the UK.
Launched last week the report revealed a litany of cases where adults and children are trafficked into and within the UK and subjected to forced labour, sexual exploitation, domestic servitude and forced criminality (which includes benefit fraud, forced begging or pick-pocketing and drug cultivation). Among other findings, the report highlighted that more than 1,000 trafficking victims were found in 2012 in the UK, including a significant number of British children.
“Although the report focuses on findings in the UK, the issues of modern day slavery and human trafficking have become an escalating global debate. These occurrences are worldwide,” said Noor Al Malki Al Jehani, Executive Director of DIIFSD.
“Progressing nations must, therefore, accept their collective responsibility to help uncover, document and report these occurrences in a transparent and factual manner,” she added.
Citing widespread ignorance among police, social workers and immigration officers about the scale and nature of human trafficking in today’s world, the report presented a strong case of the urgency for authorities to start recognising these problems as criminal matters and not ones of immigration control. The report called for a Modern Slavery Act to bring all human trafficking and slavery offences together to ensure that victims do not face threat of prosecution and are encouraged to report abuse and seek help.
The Peninsula
