If there is one thing which should unite all political parties regardless of ideology, it is surely stamping out sex trafficking.   Slavery was officially abolished in the West in 1836, but in the form of trafficking in the twenty-first century, given the sheer scale of this enforced domination of victims for commercial gain, it still lives on.   At its peak in the 1780s the slave trade involved the transportation of 80,000 slaves from Africa to the Americas, but now ten times that number of women are trafficked across international borders.   Yet, inexplicably, the UK coalition government has now refused to endorse an EU directive aimed to cordinate European efforts to stop the sex slave trade.

The mealy-mouthed excuse given by a Home Office apologist made out that the government would review its stance later when the draft directive was agreed, but in the meantime would reserve its position lest there was any part of the directive it disagreed with.   Not exactly a rousing call for action against what some have termed a modern form of genocide – rather an opt-out that sends a green light to pimps everywhere.

Even before this miserable praevarication Britain’s record in this matter has been pretty dire.   It is reckoned that some 2,600 foreign women are forced into prostitution in brothels in England and Wales, yet only 5 people were convicted of human trafficking for sexual exploitation in the first half of this year, compared with 33 and 34 in the two previous years.   So much for the Home Office (and its female Home Secretary) and CPS claim that they are cracking down hard on the problem.

Tsunamis, earthquakes, eruptions, mudslides get huge publicity and public and private aid because these are terrible disasters transmitted worldwide by television.   Human trafficking is arguably worse, given its scale and callous cruelty, yet gets next to no attention because it’s invisible.   But sex slavery, honour killings, acid attacks, rape as an exrension of war, and genital mutilation are all part of a global persecution of women that profoundly dishonours and degrades current society everywhere.   Shame on our government for their sanctimonious administrative excuses – eradicating this evil should be an unalloyed top-level goal for the UK as an example to all governments everywhere.

Bookmark to: