Bluecoat Display Centre is a contemporary craft and design gallery in Liverpool. The 200 Years: Slavery Now exhibition aimed to draw attention to modern slavery, both within the UK and in the wider international context. It brought together ten artists whose work reflected these concerns, and who were committed to highlighting the existence of slavery today through the creation of artefacts and the development of personal narratives. Materials used included ceramics, mixed media installations and textiles. Some of the themes covered included the exploitation of migrant workers, sex trafficking, 'sweat shop' mass production, and commemorating the Middle Passage and the workers of Manchester's cotton mills. The exhibition was curated by Professor Stephen Dixon, with the support of the Craft and Design Research Centre, MIRIAD, at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Despite having the lowest regional prevalence of modern slavery in the world, Europe remains a destination, and to a lesser extent, a source region for the exploitation of men, women and children in forced labour and commercial sexual exploitation. Trafficking for sexual exploitation is the most widespread for of modern slavery with an 84% of victims trafficked for this purpose. The majority of those trafficked for this purpose are women and young girls who often originate from Eastern Europe within the EU as well as Sub-Saharan Africa, with the majority of people being trafficked from Nigeria to various parts of Europe including Italy, France, Spain and the UK through an array of complex trafficking networks.  Aduke, a Nigerian teenager, was sold as an adult and forced in to prostitution on the streets in both the south of France and the UK. 

Almasi was enslaved within Kenya. She was deceived by a childhood friend who said she could work as a cleaner in Mombasa. But instead she was taken to a house that served as a brothel and enslaved for six months. She escaped by jumping out of a moving vehicle. She later discovered that she was HIV positive. As part of the process of narrating her story, she also created artwork. Her narrative explains the images of a wing and a tortoise. Almasi is a fictional name to protect the narrator's identity.

Sex trafficking is a form of modern slavery that exists throughout the United States. Traffickers use violence, threats, lies, debt bondage and other forms of coercion to compel adults and children to engage in commercial sex acts against their will. The situations that sex trafficking victims face vary, many victims become romantically involved with someone who then forces them into prostitution. Others are lured with false promises of a job, and some are forced to sell sex by members of their own families. Victims of sex trafficking include both foreign nationals and US citizens, with women making up the majority of those trafficked for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation. In 2015, the most reported venues/industries for sex trafficking included commercial-front brothels, hotel/motel-based trafficking, online advertisements with unknown locations, residential brothels, and street-based sex trafficking. Amy was a single mother struggling to provide for her children when she began working in an adult club. On her second night of work she met a man that offered her what she thought was a legitimate job. Once she reached his place of business, however, she was held against her will and subjected to physical and sexual abuse until she agreed to provide sexual services. In this narrative, Amy talks of the importance of training emergency services on how to deal with sex trafficking victims.

It is reported that two-thirds of the world's enslaved population are in the Asian-Pacific region. Men, women and children are subjected to all forms of modern slavery including forced labour, domestic servitude, forced begging, commercial sexual exploitation and child soldiers. The high prevalence of modern slavery in the region reflects the reality that many countries in Asia provide low-skilled labour for the production stage of global supply chains. Anna had just left school and was looking for a job when her aunt’s next door neighbour promised her a well-paid job as a waitress overseas. She was told that her airfare would be paid for, however after being taken to where she would be staying, she was told that she owed $50,000 and must work as a prostitute to pay it off.  

Despite having the lowest regional prevalence of modern slavery in the world, Europe remains a destination, and to a lesser extent, a source region for the exploitation of men, women and children in forced labour and commercial sexual exploitation. According to the most recent Eurostat findings, European Union (EU) citizens account for 65 percent of identified trafficked victims within Europe. These individuals mostly originate from Eastern Europe, including Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Slovakia. Within cases formally identified by EU authorities the largest proportion of registered human trafficking victims were female, making up around 80% of all victims. Anna was 20 years old when she was trafficked by neighbours from Romania to the Balkans where she was forced to be a prostitute for two and a half years. Anna was finally able to escape when rumours of a raid meant she, along with the other girls she was enslaved with, had to be moved and one of her clients offered to help.

The UK National Crime Agency estimates 3,309 potential victims of human trafficking came into contact with the State or an NGO in 2014. The latest government statistics derived from the UK National Referral Mechanism in 2014 reveal 2,340 potential victims of trafficking from 96 countries of origin, of whom 61 percent were female and 29 percent were children. Of those identified through the NRM, the majority were adults classified as victims of sexual exploitation followed by adults exploited in the domestic service sector and other types of labour exploitation. The largest proportion of victims was from Albania, followed by Nigeria, Vietnam, Romania and Slovakia.  Anna was out with friends in Hungary when she was offered a job at a restaurant in Northern Ireland. Ready for a fresh start Anna travelled to Belfast where she was taken to a flat. However, after a few days Anna’s passport was taken and she was forced to work as a prostitute. Moved every couple of weeks Anna was afraid to escape as her trafficker had threatened the lives of her family if she did. 

Sex trafficking is a form of modern slavery that exists throughout the United States. Traffickers use violence, threats, lies, debt bondage and other forms of coercion to compel adults and children to engage in commercial sex acts against their will. Young people who run away from home are particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation by traffickers: the Department of Justice estimates that 293,000 youth are at risk. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) estimates that “1 in 5 of the 11,800 runways reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in 2015 were likely sex trafficking victims.  April ran away from home at 15 years old and became involved with a primp named 'Tom' who held her hostage, threatening her with physical violence if she tried to escape. 'Tom' forced April to have sex with men where she was subjected to verbal abuse and sexual violence daily. April was finally rescued by the FBI. 

Barbara Amaya is an award winning author, advocate and survivor. From the age of 12 she was trafficked in Washington DC and New York for over a decade. A sought-after speaker and advocate for trafficking victims and survivors of trauma everywhere, Barbara has shared her story on television and college campuses as well as with multiple civic, legal, faith and women’s organizations. Barbara is called upon by law makers and law enforcement to train others and to add her expert testimony to aid in the passing of human trafficking legislation in her home state of Virginia as well as other states. In 2014 Barbara was awarded the James B. Hunter Human Rights Award. She is the author of the book Nobody's Girl: A Memoir of Lost Innocence, Modern Day Slavery and Transformation (2015).

The Be Her Freedom campaign is part pf the A21 movement which comprises of individuals, organizations, government officials, and members of the public who are committed to abolishing injustice in the 21st century. The image replaces the shackled pleading hands of past antislavery campaigns with a clenched fist - a symbol of self-determination and self-liberation.

The UK is a destination for men and women from Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East often seeking better livelihood opportunities. The latest government statistics derived from the UK National Referral Mechanism in 2014 reveal 2,340 potential victims of trafficking from 96 countries, of whom 61% were female. The majority of adults classified as victims of sexual exploitation and the largest proportion of victims was from Albania. In 2015, the most reported venues/industries for sex trafficking included commercial-front brothels, hotel/motel-based trafficking, online advertisements with unknown locations, residential brothels, and street-based sex trafficking. Bella was living in Albania when her marriage failed and she became estranged from her family. During the financial crisis beginning in 2008 Bella’s business began to struggle, so she began to look for work. Not originally planning to go abroad, Bella was offered an opportunity to work in a restaurant in Belgium. However, when she went to go and see the work she would be doing, she was forced in to a lorry and her documents were taken off her. The lorry took Bella to the UK where she was forced into sexual exploitation. She was able to seize a window of opportunity one day and ran for two hours to freedom. She was taken by police to Rahab Adoratrices, a charity founded in 2009 to care for women affected by human trafficking for sexual exploitation.

Sex trafficking exists throughout the United States and across the world. Traffickers use violence, threats, debt bondage and other forms of coercion to compel adults and children to engage in commercial sex acts against their will. According the US Federal Law, any person under the age of 18 years old persuaded into commercial sex is a victim of sex trafficking – no matter if the trafficker uses force, fraud and coercion or not. In many cases of sex trafficking, victims become romantically involved with someone who then forces or manipulates them into prostitution. Young people who run away from home are particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation by traffickers: the Department of Justice estimates that 293,000 youth are at risk. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) estimates that “1 in 5 of the 11,800 runways reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in 2015 were likely sex trafficking victims.” In 2015, the most reported venues/industries for sex trafficking included commercial-front brothels, hotel/motel-based trafficking, online advertisements with unknown locations, residential brothels, and street-based sex trafficking. Beth was just 16 when she met a man who said he wanted to be her boyfriend. He invited her to a party in a different state, however on the way there Beth was beaten and drugged. On awaking Beth was threatened with a gun, had her identifying documents taken from her and forced to perform commercial sex work.

On any given day in 2016 there were an estimated 40.3 million people in modern slavery across the world, with women and girls accounting for 71% of victims. People looking for work and a better standard of living are often deceived, forced and coerced in to such forms of modern slavery as forced labour, debt bondage, domestic servitude and commercial sexual exploitation. Women and girls made up more than 99% of victims of forced sexual exploitation. Moreover more than 1 million of these victims (21%) were children under the age of 18. Child victims are often difficult to detect by both law enforcement and child protection agents, as such the true figure of children in commercial sexual exploitation is likely to be much higher than the current estimate. Blu was 13 years old when she began seeing an older boy that lived near her school. This boy began forcing Blu to have sex with other men, subjecting her to physical violence when she refused. Though other people in her life – including her mother – knew about her prostitution, no one believed that she was being forced. It was only when she left school at 16 and moved away that she could escape.

Carissa Phelps is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the organisation Runaway Girl. She grew up in California and, enduring a troubled home life, dropped out of school when she was 12 and ran away. After meeting a pimp, she was forced into prostitution, and later arrested alongside him. After returning home she was arrested for joyriding and sent to a juvenile detention centre, where she began to receive therapy and an education. She went on to graduate from high school, university and obtain a law degree from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). A documentary about her story was released in 2008, named Carissa.

Honduras is a source and transit country for women and children trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation. Those targeted are usually lured by false job offers from rural areas to urban, tourist centres. Honduran women and children are trafficked to Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico, Belize, and the United States for commercial sexual exploitation. Most foreign victims of commercial sexual exploitation in Honduras are from neighboring countries; some are economic migrants victimized en route to the United States. Additional trafficking concerns include reports of child sex tourism in the Bay Islands, and some criminal gangs’ forcing children to conduct street crime. Carla was 15 when she was forced to leave school after her mother became ill. One evening on her way home from work Carla was forced into a car at gunpoint by a gang. Taken to a wooden house, Carla was tied up, deprived of food and water and forced to sell drugs and sex. Carla was subjected to physical and sexual violence daily. She was finally able to escape with the help of a client.

Word of Mouth Media Production, based in Southwark, staged a production of Celia at New Players Theatre in London. The play was directed by Malcolm Frederick and written by Richard Nyeila, inspired by Melton A. McLaurin's biography 'Celia A Slave'. Based in the mid-19th century, the story revolves around Celia, an enslaved woman on trial for murdering her abusive owner.

Cambodia was renowned as a sex tourism destination in the 1990s and this legacy is still prevalent today with women and girls trafficked within the thriving sex industry in Cambodia's major cities. Despite significant attempts to curb CSE, NGOs report the industry has been pushed underground and sex offenders are still able to purchase sex with children through an intermediary rather than more overt selling of sex in brothels. Boys and young men are also vulnerable to sexual exploitation, with many entering the massage industry due to a lack of training and skills. Chaivoeurn travelled to Phnom Penh with her aunt for work to help her parents pay off their debts. Told she would be working for a family, when she arrived Chaivoeurn was locked up, starved and tortured until she agreed to work sleeping with clients. Forced to serve clients every day to pay back debts incurred from her sale, Chaivoeurn worked for 8 years in different brothels. She was only able to escape from bondage after police arrested her during a raid and she was referred to social services.

In 1993, Dina Chan was exploited in northern Cambodia. Women are internally trafficked for sexual exploitation in Cambodia, usually from rural areas to the country’s capital, Phnom Penh, and other secondary cities. Cambodian women are also brought to Thailand and Malaysia for commercial sexual exploitation. An orphan who got into debt for overdue rent payments and tuition fees, Dina was trafficked from Phnom Penh to Stroeung Treng at the age of 17. Her narrative describes police corruption, starvation, and gang rape. She points out the irony that she fought for others’ freedoms as a soldier, “only to become enslaved,” and rejects the response of “pity” to her story. She also issues a call for prostitutes to unionize and “fight for basic rights.” On behalf of herself and her “sisters,” Dina demands recognition of her humanity: “We are people, we are women and we want to be treated with respect.”

The Global Slavery Index estimates that approximately 248,700 people live in conditions of modern slavery in South Africa. 43% of victims in forced labour were identified by the Walk Free survey to be subjected to commercial sexual exploitation. Though the purchasing of sex is criminalised, the sex industry thrives on the street, in brothers and in private residences. South African women, women from neighbouring states and Thai, Chinese, Russian and Brazilian women have been identified as victims of commercial sexual exploitation in South Africa. South African women have also been trafficked abroad, predominantly to Europe.  Elanie was abused and neglected from a very young age. She was sexually molested until the age of 14 years old by both her mother’s boyfriends, teachers and her brother. Alcohol featured at an early age during her life, being given it to keep her quiet from the age of 6. After she left school Elanie was looking for work when she was sold to an escort agency and subjected to sexual abuse by numerous men for 8 months.

Eyes Wide Shut provides a lesson plan and resources for teaching about child grooming.This lesson is about Sarah, a young girl in the UK who was groomed and exploited for seven years. The grooming began when she was aged 10, and then as a 12-year-old,Sarah became a victim of human trafficking for child commercial sexual exploitation(CCSE). The lesson title, EYES WIDE SHUT is a reference to the fact that nobodyseemed to notice – of if they did, no action was taken for several years. This is a true story.There are two 55-minute lessons, depending on the level of your students. The lessons are aimed at older teens, young adults and adults, B1+ (upper intermediate to advanced).Material's include Sarah’s story, information about the grooming process, student worksheet, autonomous learning resources, slides, audio recording, Teacher’s Guide.  Audio for this lesson plan can be found at https://youtu.be/4797g8HuMow