Like cities all over the world, London has its share of criminal activity. A crime that most cities tend to overlook is well surveyed in London: human trafficking.
Human trafficking is the act of trading humans for sexual labour: individuals are forced to perform sexual acts without giving consent. Many consider it modern-day slavery. Some are forced into this for short periods of time, such as a few days, and some are forced into this for many years. Some of the ways that a victim can be lured and forced into human trafficking are responding to a fake job ad, unknowingly establishing a relationship with a trafficker, or believing promises of a glamorous lifestyle by a trafficker. Then traffickers will take a victim’s possessions, such as their money, ID, and cell phone, leaving them dependent on their trafficker.
According to a CBC London article, 50% of human trafficking victims are between the ages of 18-24 and 25% are under the age of 18. Recently, the London Police Services rescued a 14-year-old and two 16-year-olds. According to the human trafficking section of the Government of Canada website, the most common victims of human trafficking are the socially or economically disadvantaged, minors, migrants and new immigrants, runaway teens, and children who are in protection (i.e. foster care).
A startling 71% of victims being trafficked in London are local residents. London police rescued 15 girls and women from human trafficking and laid a total of 16 related charges in 2017 alone. However, there were 184 trafficking investigations throughout the year.
So why is London a prime location for human trafficking? Large highways make it easy for traffickers to move city to city with victims to meet clients. Since London is located on Highway 401, traffickers are able to take victims to hotels close to the highway and then quickly move onto the next city after the act has occurred.
Due to the large impact of human trafficking in the London community, the London Police Services have had a special human trafficking unit since 2016.
One survivor of human trafficking was forced to strip in clubs along highways 401 and 402 for eight years. Caroline Pugh-Roberts, a survivor of human trafficking, was forced into stripping and performing other sexual tasks for money by her then-boyfriend. She finally escaped after attempting to for two years. Now, she makes presentations in high schools, emphasizing the early warning signs of possible human trafficking to young women.
Due to lack of shelters available to victims of human trafficking, many victims are forced to return to their traffickers in order to survive. Returning to their trafficker does not create solutions. However, the City of London is continuously working to end human trafficking in London. The special human trafficking unit of the London Police consistently work undercover pretending to be potential clients of traffickers and are succeeding in catching the criminals.
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