Those two people coming out of the bus station—probably a father and daughter, right? But take a closer look: The tight grip he has on her arm, the scratch marks on her face, his hat pulled down low, plunging his features into shadow.
The noisy motel room down the hall. Stop being annoyed and listen. Those aren’t party noises and music, but muffled screams. And the men going in and out of the door look more furtive than festive.
Child victims had it worse: Less than 1 percent were allowed to remain in the nation.
The pleasant couple who come to the massage therapy office, not to be serviced, but because they’re looking to hire someone. You, for instance. You said you had no family in town? Would you like to make more money working for us?
Human trafficking isn’t an obvious thing. Like a chameleon, it blends in with its environment and hides in plain sight.
But the buying and selling of human beings is a massive and diabolical industry involving 162 of the 195 nations on earth.
It is also the darkest industry on earth—and it’s booming. Between 2019 and 2022, human trafficking surged by 25 percent, with an estimated 65.3 million people enslaved as of late 2024.
The UK, in particular, is reeling. A decade after passing a landmark anti-trafficking law and spending over $50 million on prevention, trafficking numbers continue to set records year after year. Harsh penalties have failed to deter perpetrators, and promises of protection for victims have proven largely empty.
Worse, according to a report, “Road to Nowhere: The impact of insecure immigration status of survivors of trafficking,” the UK is failing in its promised protection of trafficking victims.
In the past year, only four percent of the over 4,240 non-British victims were granted permission to stay in the UK, leaving them open to poverty, imprisonment and a return to slavery. Child victims had it worse: Less than 1 percent were allowed to remain in the nation, and then only for 12 months or less—barely enough time to recover from the trauma, let alone rebuild a life.
And so, on July 16, responding to mounting demands for reform, the UK Home Office called for help.
In a written statement entitled “Call for Evidence on Identification of Victims of Modern Slavery,” Jess Phillips, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, invited victims, NGOs, police, local authorities and researchers to help reform the National Referral Mechanism, the UK’s official system within the Home Office for identifying and supporting modern slavery victims.
The Call for Evidence will run for 12 weeks and will give a chance for groups and individuals on the ground to have their say as to what a victim is, how you can identify one and how to speed up the decision-making processes. “A key aim,” according to MP Phillips, “is to strengthen the system, both now and for the future, ensuring that it effectively serves victims of modern slavery and is resilient to future changes.”
It’s stated plainly in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.”
Just 21 words—but the distance between that ideal and today’s reality feels immeasurable.
Still, this call to the public shows the UK’s refusal to surrender to grim statistics and daunting odds. It signals a belief that progress is still possible—and that the voices of victim and advocate alike deserve to be heard.
