This SoroptiBlog comes from Anna McCormick, Programme Manager at SIHQ, who recently attended a conference on Modern Day Slavery. Here she describes one of the sessions she attended, and talks about how education and awareness are vital in the prevention of VAWG.

On December 3^rd – 4^th I attended the Trust Women conference in London. This conference brings together survivors of
gender crime, women’s rights activists, lawyers, journalists and academics and
provides a holistic insight into various thematic issues on women’s rights. The
theme of this year’s Trust Women conference was Modern Day Slavery.

After receiving a Gucci gift bag on arrival and seeing a list of celebrity speakers I was feeling a little cynical and worried the conference would lack real understanding and substance, however underneath this gloss turned out to be
an engaging, intelligent and progressive event. The panelists were diverse,
and the sessions proved insightful and action-oriented.

One of the plenary’s was entitled ‘Trafficking and Slavery –
Stories of Survival’. On this panel was Martina Vandenberg, Founder and
President of The Human Trafficking Pro Bono Legal Centre, Minh Dang, a consultant
on issues related to human trafficking and a survivor of slavery, Hazel
Thompson a world-winning photojournalist and Karina De Vega, a social worker,
activist and human trafficking survivor.

The common theme coming through was that of education, "If
only I knew this existed" were the words repeated to Hazel Thompson when she
was in India making a documentary about sex trafficking in Kamathipura, Asia’s
second largest red light district. Hazel spent several years there researching
and building up relationships, and during this time she witnessed the abysmal realities
of the sex trafficking industry. She saw the cages in which women and girls
were kept, and she met women and girls who were tattooed with bar codes on
their necks to indicate that they are nothing but property to buy and sell.

Myths prevail in Kamathipura that the girls ‘want’ to be
there, or if it wasn’t for the girls being there that the men’s mothers and
daughters would be raped as if the sexual slavery is somehow simply easing what
could be a wider social problem. The ignorance is fuel to these crimes and
education and awareness programmes are vital. Read Hazel’s ebook, about her experiences entitled  ‘Taken’.

What was further discussed by the panel was that it is very
complicated to simply rescue girls that have been enslaved for so long. Many
are so traumatized and institutionalised that a rescue from an outsider is not
always possible because for some their life was already ‘taken’ from them when
they were subjected to repeated abuse. This raised the issue of freedom and what that actually means. Minh
stated that what she needed more than anything else when she got away from her
traffickers was long-term help from a mental health centre. "Learning freedom"
she said "takes time".

There were two main themes in this session, the prevention of human
trafficking through education, and the help that survivors really need when they have gotten
away from their abusers.

What Soroptimists around the world are doing is working to
change attitudes through various projects teaching about gender crime & the
rights of women and girls, Soroptimists are also working with centres that
provide counselling and refuge to those in need. Human trafficking is prevalent
throughout the world, and each form and case may be different, but the feelings
afterwards are often the same. Grief, rage, disillusionment, are simply to name
a few.

Soroptimists are also acting in India in commemoration of the 23 year-old student in New Delhi,
India, who was attacked by a group of men while travelling home on a bus.
Soroptimists there are taking part in events this week which call for continued
action to end the persistent problems of violence against women and girls in India. Read More.