Street Drama

This week we have been involved in a series of street dramas to raise awareness of human trafficking.

The joint initiative, organised by The Salvation Army’s Scotland Office and the Scottish Churches Anti-Human Trafficking Group, took place during the Edinburgh Festival's Just Festival – and sees market stalls in different locations around the city selling ‘people’ as commodities – based on real life stories of human trafficking victims.

Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Roberts, The Salvation Army’s Assistant to the Secretary for Scotland, said: "Human trafficking is taking place all around us; in our local communities and perhaps around the corner from where we live. We want people to know they can play a role in stamping it out.

"The Salvation Army has a long history of supporting victims of human trafficking and pressing for their legal protection. In England and Wales we have provided support services to more than 2000 adult victims of human trafficking in the past four years.”

The street drama is the idea of Keith Turton, The Salvation Army’s drama co-ordinator. Keith said: "We think of slavery as people being chained up and in ropes. That may have been the case hundreds of years ago but nowadays it’s much less obvious to the casual observer.

"And so the idea is to have a market stall where we will pretend to sell human beings. We will have a rail of clothing that depicts the work that people do. You can dress these people up to show how they are seen as just commodities.

“It’s a dramatic way of highlighting the issue of trafficking and it’s a way of saying: ‘people shouldn’t be bought or sold.’”

Hazel Watson, Convener of the Scottish Churches Anti-Human Trafficking Group, added: “All human beings have intrinsic value and have the right to live with dignity in freedom. This drama, shocking as it is itself, is a way of highlighting the reality of human trafficking that is far more shocking. We can all play our part in efforts to combat this horrendous crime.”

The Salvation Army, along with the Scottish Churches Anti-Human Trafficking Group, has contributed to the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Bill, which is currently going through the Scottish Parliament. The Bill will create a specific offence of human trafficking for the first time as well as increase the maximum penalty for offenders to life imprisonment.

Lt-Col Roberts added: “The Salvation Army welcomes this new legislation being introduced by the Scottish Government because it aims to keep victims central, both by tackling offenders and supporting victims.”

The Scottish Churches Anti-Human Trafficking Group will also be using the UN Gift Box initiative to raise awareness of human trafficking. The initiative is created by Stop The Traffik and the United Nations Global Initiative to Fight Trafficking (UN GIFT). Two large, walk-in boxes have been created to symbolise trafficking and will be dotted around Edinburgh to provide information and first-hand accounts and pictures from victims inside. Each box highlights a specific aspect of human trafficking – be it forced labour or sexual exploitation.

Commonwealth Games and Anti-Human Trafficking

During the summer there was a lot of publicity, excitement and support around the Commonwealth Games and they were good to watch and enjoy. It was also great to see how the Salvation Army brought together volunteers from various parts of Scotland to form Glasgow 2014 Mission teams who were actively involved with numerous community programmes.

I was a volunteer taking part in an activity which is one that a lot of people find either abhorrent or uncomfortable to hear or speak about. It is the Anti-Human Trafficking campaign. There were over 150 volunteers from all the Christian denominations in Scotland supporting the More than Gold campaign to raise awareness of human trafficking. We did this through the UN Gift Boxes which were strategically placed in Glasgow city centre.

 

 

The large, walk-in boxes were intended to symbolise trafficking with each one providing information and first-hand accounts and pictures from victims inside. Each box highlighted a specific aspect of human trafficking - domestic servitude (green), forced street crime (pink), begging and forced labour (blue), sexual exploitation (red). The boxes looked very attractive and inviting which is the whole essence of the human trafficking scenario. The victims are enticed, sold, forced into a situation which in some cases appears to be the answer to their dreams and problems; only to find they are trapped and become victims of human slavery.

 

It is a modern day horrific crime where millions of lives are being destroyed or are at risk. These victims have no voice and More than Gold together with the many other Christian supporters used the opportunity of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow to gather signatories to petition against human trafficking. Over 16,000 signatures were obtained from members of the public and the boxes significantly raised their awareness of this crime against humanity. The petition will be presented to the Scottish Government to ensure that a Scottish Human Trafficking Bill addresses the vital issue of trafficking within business supply chains.

Since July 2011 The Salvation Army and its partners have supported over 800 victims of trafficking thanks to a £2million fund from the Ministry of Justice. The Salvation Army has committed to raise around £200,000 a year to run the Anti-Human Trafficking Support Programme. This vital programme works together with local authorities, other agencies engaged in anti-human trafficking, the police and other faith organisations. Further information about this work is available online:

http://www.salvationarmy.org.uk/uki/Anti_Human_Trafficking_Victim_Support_Programme

A Human Trafficking leaflet is also available that helps someone ‘read the signs’ and gives clear guidance as to what they should do. This is available to download:

http://www.scotland.police.uk/assets/pdf/174967/human-trafficking?view=Standard

 

Please continue to pray about this global issue and let us be the voice for those who have no voice.

 

"Then the King will say, 'I'm telling the solemn truth:Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me - you did it to me'". Matt 25:40 The Message

 
 

Major Kathy Betteridge