Before the lecture, we had the pleasure of inviting Fiona to join us for supper, where she shared some of her personal experiences from her work with Justice and Care, a charity dedicated to fighting slavery, supporting survivors, and protecting communities.

During her talk, she surprised us with statistics highlighting just how common and in plain sight these modern-day issues are; by involving the audience in a quiz we were shocked to discover that most victims of slavery in the UK today are of British ethnicity (a common misconception being that they are international migrants). 

We were shown a few documentaries surrounding real-life experiences on the topic, followed by ways in which we can all spot signs of potential victims to human trafficking and slavery. For example, being aware of unnatural and withdrawn behaviour and indications of physical abuse.

Fiona also described helping a young female victim who had undergone sex trafficking for several years, which was moving and saddening yet inspiring to understand the extent of help the charity provides. Overall, the experiences and advice shared by Fiona on the important topics have given us a better understanding of how we can further raise awareness.

By Honor and Bea, UVI