A Response to the Reality of Human Trafficking

This article outlines one of the projects undertaken by the Friends of St. Eugene to help poor and marginalized people in Birmingham, England. It also sheds light on the prevalence of human trafficking amongst women refugees and how it affects their integration into the UK wider society and the trauma they face.

At St Anne’s Catholic Parish in Birmingham, the Friends of St. Eugene are deeply rooted in the principles and values to support each other and especially the poor and marginalized through Friendship, Prayer and Service as particular projects have been taken on during Lent and Advent. During the last years, we have reached out to help many vulnerable refugees and migrants, including homeless and rough sleepers and victims of trafficking to settle and integrate into the UK after their perilous journeys.

Based on our commitment to the Oblate charism, as Friends… we have individually and collectively tried to live out the vision of St. Eugene by making a difference to the lives of people who live in our local area through volunteering in the local projects – the seasonal homeless night shelter in St Anne’s church; the permanent, adjacent Tabor House shelter for the homeless and also at Fatima House. This latter project, which is again on St Anne’s premises, entails working with Fr Hudson’s Care within the Archdiocese of Birmingham to provide accommodation for destitute female asylum seekers in Birmingham.

As we seek to deepen our relationship with Christ, we do our best to meet regularly to develop our spiritual resolve by imitating the pattern of St Eugene’s life. In so doing, we have committed ourselves to not only helping to improve the lives of refugees and people seeking asylum through social and political change, we also strive to share good practice with and between various organisations such as: St Chads Sanctuary in Birmingham, the Carmelite Monastery in Wolverhampton, Victims of Torture, The Haven, ECPAT (End Child Prostitution and Trafficking) and
The Salvation Army. The objective of these initiatives is to provide victims of human trafficking with safe, secure accommodation and culturally sensitive support, with counselling tailored to their individual needs.

The present challenge is urgent and immense. Hundreds and thousands of migrants, young and old, lonely or in groups, or as families, have made perilous journeys, risking their lives and leaving their motherland, crossing into Europe and becoming refugees, migrants and homeless people, facing all of the dangers and consequences at their peril.

These migrants, many of whom are victims of human trafficking, social injustice and violence, speak of desperately fleeing the devastation, poverty and wars in their own countries. They have encountered countless hindrances and obstructions to their freedom and hardly receive any assistance or protection throughout their journey.

One of the many challenges facing trafficked woman, as one person relates her experience whilst being trafficked in Europe, is her dependence on human traffickers or other illegitimate means of crossing borders. Recent research by the EU’s law enforcement body found that 90 per cent of refugees have had to pay a criminal gang up to $6,000 to enable them to reach Europe.

Consequently this not only brings suffering, abuse and exploitation to trafficked women and families, but forces many vulnerable women to perform ‘survival sex’ in order to pay traffickers to smuggle them across Europe’s borders when they have no other option because they cannot afford the unreasonable fees being charged by the traffickers.

In discussions and listening to stories from victims of human trafficking at a local charity drop-in centre in Wolverhampton, it is believed that there is significant crossover between gangs smuggling refugees and trafficker gangs preying on unaccompanied young women for exploitative sex, work and slavery whilst crossing to Europe. Some refugee camps in Europe leave women completely unprotected, providing a perfect opportunity for traffickers to exploit these women and force them into the sex industry for their own profitable gain.

Adding to their distress, a charity supporting Asylum Seekers and Refugees in Birmingham has recognized that women who are both victims of trafficking and claiming asylum in the UK have
experienced significant difficulty in accessing the protection they are entitled to.

In dealing with questions of abuse and sexual violence that the women may have received as part of being trafficked insensitively, treating any gaps in their story may be down to trauma or unwillingness to share this information as reasons to disprove their claim to having been trafficked. If their asylum claim is also initially refused the victim may be left without access to housing, medical care and safety.

With the recent surge in refugee crisis leading to an increase in the trafficking of women it is vitally important that the UK and European governments enforce a fair and effective system to help and support these vulnerable victims. Currently female refugees are left at the mercy of human traffickers whose sole business is only to exploit, abuse, charge them unreasonably. The injustices build up against women refugees in Europe, as they face everincreasing dangers and exploitation, a far cry from the protection guaranteed by the UK and European governments and Our Father’s will… Please God that we can help and we pray to and with St Eugene for this need.

James Omunson – on behalf of the Birmingham Friends of St Eugene, in the May 2018 Issue of Oblate Connections