British prime minister, Theresa May, during her visit to Nigeria has visited a programme designed to combat modern slavery. The project, run by the Salvation Army, supports people within Nigerian communities who are vulnerable to human trafficking.
At a Salvation Army centre in Lagos, the prime minister met staff and volunteers from the community as well as survivors of human trafficking and their families who have been supported by the Salvation Army’s Community Awareness and Recovery (CAR) project, which is funded by the Home Office’s Modern Slavery Innovation Fund.
The CAR project runs across four states in Nigeria and the island of Mindinao in the Philippines. It focuses on changing community attitudes and behaviours towards trafficking and offers care and accommodation with specially trained host families. The project also links people to long-term community reintegration and support programmes run through Salvation Army churches and centres.
The project moves away from shelters and institutions, favouring traditional African responses of providing support within family and community settings, with a focus on empowering communities to care for their own vulnerable people in the long-term and empowering survivors to develop sustainable self-reliance to reduce the risk of re-trafficking.
To date the CAR project has received more than 100 referrals and more than 50 survivors have been supported with recovery and rehabilitation services while capacity continues to be built to meet the continuous growth in demand. In Nigeria most referrals were for adult women who were victims of sexual exploitation, although some were children, some men and some trafficked for domestic servitude and forced labour.
Kathy Betteridge, Director of Anti Trafficking and Modern Slavery for The Salvation Army in the UK said, “The Salvation Army has made responding to modern slavery and human trafficking a global priority, building on our long history of working with people affected by this horrendous crime. We are therefore honoured that the Prime Minister has chosen to visit our project in Nigeria.
“We also welcome the Prime Minister’s announcement today of new measures to cut illegal and unsafe migration and provide support for victims of modern slavery in West Africa. We have been grateful for the support, which has enabled The Salvation Army to complete the foundations to get this innovative project up and running and already generating really positive outcomes for the community. We hope for backing into the future to enable us to continue building in the long-term on the remarkable successes of this project so far.”
Project Manager for the CAR project in Nigeria and Philippines, Paska Moore said, “It was a privilege to introduce the Prime Minister, as a long term champion of the fight against trafficking, to the people whose communities The Salvation Army has been able to support through the CAR project.
“She was able to see first-hand the impact of UK Government funding on people vulnerable to trafficking whose lives have been transformed by this project which draws on our expertise in this field and strong community networks across Nigeria.
“She also met some individuals who spoke frankly of the terrible exploitation they have endured and how, now they are successfully reintegrating into their communities, they can face the future with renewed hope.”
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