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Human Trafficking

Trafficking occurs when people coerce, abduct, or deceive the vulnerable in order to gain control and exploit them. It is modern day slavery. There are an estimated 12.3 million people globally who have been stripped of their dignity through human trafficking, primarily for sexual or labour exploitation. Helpless poor people, seeking a better life because of poverty, domestic violence and other pressures they have no control over, are brutally oppressed, often sexually abused, raped, beaten, starved and humiliated. Slavery is the 2nd largest crime industry in the world (beating only drugs), generating an estimated $32 billion a year.

Heaven's Attic focus our efforts on helping those enslaved in sex trafficking - this is the recruitment, transportation, and trading of (primarily) women and children for the purpose of forced prostitution.

Due to its very nature, the exact statistics of sex trafficking are extremely hard to estimate, but here are a few facts:

  • According to UNICEF, as many as 2 million children are subjected to prostitution in the global commercial sex trade.
  • 50 - 60% of the children who are trafficked into sexual slavery are under age 16.
  • Greece is a main hub for trafficking and a woman or girl is sold every 48 seconds [This is where A21 is based]
  • There are still 104 countries without laws, policies, or regulations to prevent victims' deportation
  • 90% of victims trafficked into EU member states end up in the sex industry
  • Tragically, only 1-2 percent of victims are rescued, and only 1 in 100,000 Europeans involved in trafficking are convicted.

Victims of trafficking are subject to rape, beatings, forced abortions, sleep deprivation, emotional abuse, starvation and threats of torturing or murdering family members. Many contract STD's and hepatitis A & B and an estimated 30,000 die alone annually from abuse, torture, neglect and disease, whilst in slavery.

Trafficked migrants usually have their passports taken away on arrival. Without their documents they cannot prove they have a right to be in the country and therefore cannot go to the authorities for assistance. Legally, many states and governments aren't equipped to deal with cases like this.

If you would like further information on human trafficking, please contact us at info@heavensattic.co.uk and we will help where we can. It is easy to feel overwhelmed about the enormity of this issue, but please don't feel helpless - we cannot all do everything, but we can each do something. Together we WILL make a difference.

Tell your friends about us, join us on Facebook for daily snippets on human trafficking issues around the world and don't forget to shop with us when you are looking for gifts for your friends.

Information Sources:

International Labour Organisation (ILO); United Nations & TIP Report 2009, 2010; The A21 Campaign; UNICEF; FBI; International Justice Mission (IJM)