Category Archives: Slavery

‘Surprising’ choice: police chief Sara Thornton tipped to be anti-slavery tsar

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MPs raise fears over unconfirmed appointment that reflects focus on law enforcement rather than victims

MPs have expressed surprise over the appointment of one of Britain’s most senior police officers as Theresa May’s anti-slavery commissioner, eight months after the previous postholder resigned citing government interference.

Sara Thornton, chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, will take up the post later this year, the Sunday Times reported, although the Home Office did not confirm the appointment. A candidate would be “announced shortly” it said.

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Slavery in Britain: the photographer documenting the streets where people have been held

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About 13,000 people are kept in slavery in the UK. Amy Romer’s book The Dark Figure* reveals the terrifying ordinariness of the sites of their captivity

In 2013, a 22-year-old Hungarian woman responded to an online ad for a babysitting job in London and, after a telephone interview, was offered the post. When she arrived in Budapest to travel to London, she was met by three men who confiscated her mobile, drove her to Slovakia and forced her on to a coach bound for Manchester.

There was no babysitting job. Instead, the woman had been “bought” for £3,500 by a Pakistani man and was told to prepare for marriage. After being held captive at various Manchester addresses, she finally alerted the police from a house in Cunliffe Street, Chorley, where she was rescued and later repatriated home.

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The Indian village where child sexual exploitation is the norm

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Poverty and caste discrimination mean that children in Sagar Gram are being groomed by their own families for abuse

Many families in India still mourn the birth of a girl. But when Leena was born, people celebrated.

Sagar Gram, her village in central India, is unique that way. Girls outnumber boys. When a woman marries, it is the groom’s family that pays the dowry. Women are Sagar Gram’s breadwinners. When they are deemed old enough, perhaps at the age of 11, most are expected to start doing sex work.

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