Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Human trafficking warning: It’s happening today, right now, in every city and every town

Post Thumbnail

One of Scotland’s leading campaigners against human trafficking has described the hundreds of women helped by her organisation in the past three years as the tip of the iceberg.

Bronagh Andrew, operations manager for Trafficking Awareness Raising Alliance (TARA), is calling for the criminalisation of paying for sex in off-street venues, which is not currently illegal in Scotland. She said her group has assisted many women coerced into sexual exploitation in places such as Inverness, and rural Caithness as well as our major cities.

Glasgow-based TARA, which supports victims trafficked for sexual exploitation, has helped 293 women in the past three years alone.

Andrew said: “I have been involved in supporting trafficked women since 2004 and there’s been an increase more or less year-on-year.

“A lot of people think it only happens abroad or in big cities, but there have been victims identified in every one of Scotland’s local authorities. It’s an issue in our towns and cities, and our rural communities.”

Trafficking victims sold into slavery have been identified across Scotland. Three men and a woman, thought to be Romanian, were held after police raids in Blairgowrie, Perthshire, last week in a trafficking probe allegedly linked to fruit-pickers.

Support organisations say women are duped into travelling to Scotland with promises of a better life before being sold into prostitution.

However, Andrew said: “It’s about Scottish and UK nationals being trafficked and exploited here, as well as people from abroad being brought to the UK.

“Where there is an off-street sex industry, there will be women trafficked and hidden in plain sight.” We told last month that official UK figures showed there were 387 people feared trafficked here last year alone, a four-fold increase in under a decade.

Andrew said: “The official statistics are the tip of the iceberg. They don’t reflect the people who are in situations of exploitation in Scotland right now and have not been able to seek help.

“If you are in a situation of exploitation, help is available 24/7 from organisations like ourselves, Migrant Help and the police.

“The women we support are often survivors of childhood abuse and child trafficking. They are then subjected to abuse at the hands of Scottish men willing to pay for sex. They suffer trauma after being abused on a daily basis.

“We have supported women from teenage years to their 60s. Men who pay for sex are responsible for creating this market. We support the criminalisation of paying for sex, but think this can only happen when there’s action to prevent exploitation, and services to help get the women involved out of prostitution.”

Kirsty Thomson, of human rights lawyers JustRight Scotland, which operates a dedicated anti-trafficking unit, said: “The reality is that human trafficking is happening throughout Scotland and survivors tell me it is happening in plain sight.

“We need increased awareness so that people can see when human trafficking is happening in order that more people can be protected.”

The Scottish Government said trafficking human beings was “an appalling abuse of human rights” and added work had begun to ensure it was “recognised, recorded and punished and that victims get the help they need”.