More and more countries around the world are opening their arms to welcome and embrace LGBT pride. Although not everyone in these countries are in complete agreement on LGBT rights, the presence of the LGBT community in mainstream media demonstrates increasing open-mindedness.
However, the opposite seems to be the case in Africa. 36 out of Africa’s 55 states outlaw homosexuality. Homosexuals in Nigeria are locked up for 14 years while their Ugandan counterparts face life sentences. Moreover, the Ugandan government expects its citizens to report suspected gay friends and family.
Incarceration is not the only injustice homosexual Africans face. In South Africa, where same-sex marriage is legal, homosexuals, especially lesbians, still face violence and “corrective” rape. By ostracizing homosexual individuals, communities deny rights to these individuals and inhibit their access to economic opportunities and basic health needs.
Homosexual individuals face difficulties finding jobs, whether they are searching for a willing employer or trying to start their own business. They are mocked, shunned and even assaulted. Due to these injustices, there are high poverty rates in the LGBT community where people suffer from hunger and insecurity.
Also, by denying a large part of health care access to homosexuals, the rate of HIV/AIDS continues to climb among the LGBT community, especially among men who have sex with other men. In South Africa, the rate of HIV/AIDS among gay men is as high as 38 percent. To avoid discrimination, these men avoid seeking medical care and avoid discussing their health issues with health care professionals. This delay in seeking treatment is detrimental and without proper care and education, infected individuals may spread the disease. The incidence of HIV/AIDS has a strong foothold in South Africa, with the overall prevalence being 17.8 percent.
The stringent African laws make it difficult for foreign intervention and reform. Foreign disapproval of Africa’s anti-LGBT legislation is a sensitive subject. When British Prime Minister David Cameron said that British aid should be conditional based on how Africa handled its human rights, there was an outcry that Britain was being colonially oppressive by introducing “western values.”
However, as Chimamanda Achebe, a Nigerian novelist, has stated, love and sexual intercourse are not divided as either “African” or “Western.” Love does not fall under any political jurisdiction.
There is also a moral question behind using humanitarian aid as a negotiating wager in order to press for LGBT rights in Africa. The humanitarian aid that countries withdraw in protest could be potential funding for African schools and hospitals. Also, the governments in Africa are unfazed by Western countries’ suspension of certain donations, since Africa can turn to China as an economic partner. This approach of coercing African governments has made very little headway.
Even if Africa were to yield their anti-LGBT legislation, it would be based on money. Western countries’ use of bargaining donations and aid to change deeply set morals in Africa is a superficial tactic.
Instead, foreign governments should help local African activist groups gain the attention of their governments. Aid and support from foreign relief agencies should be directed to these local humanitarian groups, to help them lobby their governments and bring social justice. It’s a fight for the people by the people, with international governments to back them up.
There is an LGBT Project in South Africa that aims to understand why unsafe sex occurs among LGBT individuals, so as to better help these individuals. The project also hopes to increase funding for other partner activist projects, and use advocacy campaigns to establish the needs of gay men as a priority in the National AIDS Council.
The Public Health Program’s Sexual Health and Rights Project (SHARP) is also working to advocate for LGBT health rights in Eastern and Southern Africa by looking into the needs of the LGBT community and collecting data and reports.
There are many advocacy groups and projects in Africa and around the world. Western governments should actively engage with these groups in order to understand how supporting these communities can drive social change.
– Carmen Tu
Sources: Bridging the Gaps, Huffington Post, Human Rights First, Open Society Foundaitons, Sida
Photo: Bridging the Gaps,
NGO Opportunities in Boston
While The Borgen Project and many other notable poverty-fighting organizations are situated in Seattle, opportunities to work for NGOs are everywhere. Across the country, Boston provides a metropolitan hub with a perfect atmosphere for encouraging global development. Here are just a few of the numerous NGO opportunities in Boston:
1. Grassroots International
Grassroots International makes its home on Boylston Street in Boston, and its mission is to create a more just and sustainable world by advancing people’s rights to the resources of land, food and water. The organization works in rural areas with small farmers, indigenous peoples and women focusing on human rights, the environment and sustainable agriculture. It accomplishes its goals through grant-making to financially support social movements, advocacy efforts in the U.S. and connecting various movements and organizations.
To become a part of the Grassroots International community, check out the jobs, internships and volunteer opportunities available on its website.
2. ACCION International
Working in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the U.S., ACCION International empowers people by providing them with economic opportunities through microfinance loans. ACCION is the largest micro-finance institution in the U.S. and is seeking to expand to under-served areas in India, China, Brazil and Sub-Saharan Africa. ACCION believes in a “financially inclusive world,” which is the driving force behind its work to improve people’s lives.
If ACCION International sounds like the Boston-based NGO for you, visit its work and volunteer page.
3. BNID
The Boston Network for International Development recognizes Boston’s capacity as a center for fighting global poverty and encouraging international development. Sponsored by Boston University’s Global Development Program and World Education, the BNID connects the city’s various international development institutions, educational facilities and concerned individuals.
There are many ways to get involved with the BNID. Its jobs page lists open positions and internships, and the events page features various events and volunteer opportunities such as the upcoming Bikes Not Bombs bike loading for Ghana on August 10.
As a bonus, the BNID lists the organizations it works with, which you can peruse to discover even more NGO opportunities in Boston.
-Abby DeVeuve
Sources: Grassroots International, BNID, ACCION International
Photo: BostInno
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Conflict in Nigeria Escalates
Churches and mosques alike have been burned in Nigeria’s most religiously segregated city, Jos. The key city in Nigeria’s middle belt, Jos splits the predominantly Muslim north from the primarily Christian south. Christian tribes receive preferred access to public education, government jobs and other benefits, even though Muslim tribes (deemed “settlers” to their Christian counterpoints, who are viewed as the state’s indigenous people) hold the same obligations, including paying tax and upholding state laws.
While discrimination across Nigeria takes another form in states where Christians are controlled by Muslims, the fight for religious dominance in Jos has quickly escalated. In 1994, a Hausa (a group of Muslim “settlers”) was appointed as Jos North local government chairman, catalyzing the religious conflict in Nigeria between the indigene, who were upset at a settlers’ appointment to office. Nearly 4,000 people have been killed since 2001 in the conflict.
Twenty years ago, Hajiya Badamasi, a practicing Christian, married her Muslim husband in the central city of Jos, where she later converted to Islam. Badamasi claims that, prior to Jos’ evolution as the epicenter of religious strife in Nigeria, religious identification hardly mattered. Now, as the fighting continues to increase between the indigene and settlers in what Human Rights Watch has described as “horrific internecine violence,” many agree Jos remains at a violent standstill.
Some attribute increasing conflict in Nigeria to the country’s wealth gap. In fact, violence and religious conflict in the country is not unique to the city of Jos alone. While Southern Nigerian states boast economic growth through multinational corporations, Northern states suffer extreme cases of poverty. Poverty in the North is perhaps exactly what makes the territory so susceptible to widespread attacks – most recently those perpetrated by Boko Haram, the militant Islamist group.
Around 1,505 Nigerian Christians have been killed so far this year by the extremist group Boko Haram. While the group kills Christians for their religious beliefs, their approach with Muslims is a bit different; according to claims, Muslims are killed for a “reason,” such as working for the government or refusing to pay the group extortion taxes. The group has killed almost as many Christians in seven months as were killed in all of last year.
While most claim these religious problems will not fully disappear until the constitution grants settling tribes equal rights, some Muslim leaders have voiced optimism toward the religious conflict. “I’m an optimist,” said Mohammed Hashir Saidu, a state government official. “People are getting more enlightened.”
Still, older Nigerian couples remember a time when Jos was home to acceptance of inter-religious families and people. “When my parents went to visit my wife’s parents, they were received wholeheartedly,” said Alhaji Abdulaziz Haruna, a 59-year-old Muslim who is married to a Christian. Now, just four decades later, the fate of similar couples seems much more bleak.
– Nick Magnanti
Sources: IBI Times, Yahoo News, Naharnet, BP News
Photo: Naharnet
Teenager Leads Water Purification Campaign
While NGOs and governmental organizations often lead the charge in the fight for clean drinking water, one Indian teenager is leading the way on her own.
The teenager is a 16-year-old girl named Prakriti Singh.
“After my grandfather died of jaundice and certain reports about water contamination in Delhi, I toured interiors of Bihar studying water scarcity and contamination issues,” she said in an interview with the Press Trust of India. “But it wasn’t feasible for me to work there, hence I decided to start with Delhi.”
She said that more than 200 families living in Madanpur Khadar consume unsafe drinking water. Because of this, she sent water samples to a laboratory for analysis.
To raise the necessary funds for the purification system, Singh baked and sold cakes. She obtained some money in donations from companies who responded to her requests.
Thanks to the helping hand of Project Why, an NGO with experience in the area, a local school became the home of the water purification system. The system is an Aqua Pristine RO 250 LPH and it can purify some 1,500 liters of water daily.
According to Singh, both families and students of the school maintain access to the clean drinking water. Because of the educational deficiencies with respect to water awareness in the area, Singh decided to appoint “water ambassadors” throughout the school. The ambassadors help to inform the population about clean drinking water.
Since the installation, Singh has helped to install another purification system. She intends to install another one in the future.
India, which has a population of over 1.2 billion people, is one of the fastest growing countries in the world. However, in a country where diarrhea, hepatitis and typhoid kill on a regular basis, maintaining access to legitimate water sources is key to a healthy population.
– Ethan Safran
Sources: The Hindu, CIA
Photo: electropolishing
The Changing Face of the Peace Corps
The Peace Corps has recently announced that, in order to increase its number of applicants, it will be making major changes to how the organization is run. Namely, the application process will be shorter and applicants will be given the ability to choose which country and program interests them.
Since the Peace Corps’ inception in 1961 by President Kennedy, the organization has drawn more than 215,000 volunteers who have served in 139 impoverished countries. Volunteers stay in their assigned country for two years where they work in a number of fields including education, health services and agriculture. As the premier international service organization in the U.S., almost everyone has heard of the Peace Corps and many aspire to volunteer with it one day.
However, the positive image of the Peace Corps has been tarnished in recent years due to some volunteers’ bad experiences, which have been shared online and seen by many.
The number of applicants, which peaked in 2009, has fallen by more than a third since. Previously, applications were 60 pages long and took more than eight hours to complete. After submitting an application, one might not hear back about an acceptance for more than a year. The new application supposedly takes less than one hour to complete and the organization is promising to reduce wait times to no more than six months.
Additionally, applicants did not have the liberty to choose which country in which they wanted to serve. Countries and programs were assigned by the Peace Corps, sending people wherever they were needed most. The new model allows applicants to list countries and programs in order of preference. While this could lead to fewer volunteers in more dangerous countries, Peace Corps Director Carrie Hessler-Radelet says she is not worried about this, as many of the people who are drawn to the two-year long volunteer lifestyle are also intrigued by the more difficult areas and programs.
Unfortunately, the problems within the Peace Corps go deeper than the application process. Sixty-four percent of volunteers are women and in the past decade more than 1,000 of them have been raped or sexually assaulted while serving. Victims say that the Peace Corps did little to nothing to educate volunteers on self-defense, relocate volunteers who felt in danger or help victims after an attack. Many victims claim the Peace Corps blamed them for the assault and made attempts to cover up the incident.
While most volunteers have a positive experience serving for the Peace Corps, there is still a question of how safe the program actually is and what the organization can do to improve this. Women who have been raped or sexually assaulted say that the Peace Corps needs to address the issue and do all they can to help the women receive treatment for any physical and emotional damage. Hessler-Radelet, who is relatively new to her position as director, has agreed that the Peace Corps has a commitment to its volunteers and should be helping them.
– Taylor Lovett
Sources: NPR, Peace Corps, ABC News
Photo: Peace Corps
USAID Keeps Distance from Nigerian Election
The upcoming election for the governorship of the Nigerian state of Osun was already controversial, but the situation has recently been complicated by a purported United States Agency for International Development poll. The poll, which USAID has subsequently denied, put challenger Iyiola Omisore ahead of incumbent candidate Rauf Aregbesola by a margin of 58 percent to 30 percent.
What ensued was a battle of statistics. Aregbesola’s campaign pointed to research firm TNS-RMS’s poll that put the incumbent governor ahead with an insurmountable 73 percent lead over his competitors.
Omisore’s campaign quickly came out with a statement to legitimize the alleged USAID poll.
The statement pleaded, “The public should note that USAID, an international organization operating all over the world with unrivaled technical competence and impartial perspective on Osun political landscape, had put Senator Omisore ahead.”
However, USAID immediately distanced itself from both the poll and the election. The USAID Democracy and Governance Team claimed, “None of USAID Peace and Democratic Governance Implementing Partners support or plan to support any election related opinion polls in Osun.”
Both camps in the Nigerian election sent inquires to USAID asking to back up the poll. USAID could hardly have been more clear. “No USAID poll was taken in Osun.”
This spelled good news for the Aregbesola campaign, but Omisore was ready to strike back. His campaign lambasted the TNS-RMS poll to even the score.
“We urge the public to discountenance this last minute attempt to hoodwink the public. RMS is an APC outfit doing propaganda for Aregbesola. Its poll lacks integrity and [is] totally jaundiced because of a vested interest,” one of Omisore’s campaign workers said.
It remains unclear why USAID was ever brought into the conversation if there really was no USAID poll. Perhaps the organization’s name was used to give the poll gravitas, or perhaps USAID actually did conduct the poll but is now backpedaling.
Though past elections in Osun have been roiled with fraudulent and undemocratic practices, Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan promised that “the Osun governorship elections will be very free, fair and credible.”
One way or the other, somebody is lying about the polls. Given the candidates’ willingness to bend the truth during the campaign, it is of the utmost importance that the election itself be free of any trickery.
With the election quickly approaching on August 9, the people of Osun will offer the final word on which poll was more legitimate.
– Sam Hillestad
Sources: Osun Defender, Premium Times
Photo: Premium Times
SOS Children’s Villages
SOS Children’s Villages prevent children from being abandoned. They provide individuals with the opportunity to play a crucial role in a child’s upbringing. Yet the villages themselves are susceptible to the spillover of outside violence. Children are the most vulnerable to this violence. The proper means for child development cannot be provided if their well-being is not treated with more respect and concern.
There are provisions necessary for the proper development of a child. Children need to have a loving family, respect and security. Yet with the increase of conflict, children are being placed in more and more unsecure conditions which are stripping away at their quality of development.
In the Children’s Village of Rafah, a southern city of the Gaza Strip, the sounds of bombs can be clearly heard on a daily basis. The children do not understand the cause of the violence and are terrified by the sounds. Some ask the SOS mothers, “Why are there so many people being killed? Why are there so many houses being destroyed?” But the mothers cannot even answer and simply try to keep the children happy.
The Children’s Village in Israel, home to Muslim, Jewish and Christian children, is in just as much turmoil, its occupants disturbed by the sounds of war around them. Here the Children’s Village is based in the conflict zone area, accompanied with fortified protection for families to take refuge.
Still, many children are too scared to leave the sides of their SOS mothers, some even too afraid to go to the bathroom alone. Older children say that this may be how their lives always are, always fearful of the raging war.
In Africa, the SOS Village of Malakal was forced to evacuate after threats of rebel violence. The village was later overrun by rebels and now lies in ruins. Plans of relocation to Juba, the capital city, were politically denied. Now the children of Malakal Village have no permanent home.
Countless stories exist about children who are barely surviving on the streets in their countries. From Ammar, the 10-year-old Syrian boy who spends his days collecting litter and who wakes up to insects crawling all over his body, to Tahir, an 18-year-old survivor of the SOS Village Malakal raid who ran for his life after witnessing murder, the situation of children without proper homes is worsening in these violent regions.
– Ashley Riley
Sources: SOS Children’s Villages 1, SOS Children’s Villages 2, Bor Globe
Photo: SOS Children’s Villages
Palm Weevil: Solution for Food Insecurity
To many in the developed world, insects are nothing more than a nuisance. They ruin perfectly fun summers, spread dangerous diseases and can wreak havoc on crop production. They are pestilent almost anywhere, but in some tropical and sub-tropical areas, insects are diverse, plentiful and an excellent source of protein.
One such bug, the palm weevil, is even considered to be a super food by the standards of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). Now a new social enterprise is working to commercially farm the nutritious bug to combat food insecurity.
Aspire, a startup social enterprise that won the prestigious Hult Prize in 2013, is looking to bring insect-based meals to the impoverished masses in Ghana, Mexico, Kenya and Thailand. Originally a five-member team of MBA students from McGill University, the group is now growing in size and has an official partnership with the FAO.
In Ghana, the palm weevil is a culturally accepted staple of the Ghanaian diet, but commercial production of the insect is nonexistent. At the same time, vitamin and mineral deficiencies are pervasive in Ghana, and developmental issues such as growth and mental health in children are growing as a result.
The palm weevil offers an interesting solution to the lack of nutrition in the Ghanaian diet. Whereas producing one pound of beef requires 2,900 gallons of water, 25 pounds of feed and 1,345 square feet of land, producing one pound of crickets (similar to producing palm weevils) requires only one gallon of water, two pounds of feed and 134 square feet of land. Insects like the cricket and the palm weevil are much more cost effective to farm and offer comparable levels of protein to beef production.
But unlike beef, palm weevil protein is also rich in essential micronutrients like iron, zinc, potassium and phosphorous. Growing commercial volumes of the bug for food production is cheaper than growing beef, offers more vitamins and minerals and can promote food security in Ghana quite effectively.
Mohammed Ashour, one of the founding members of Aspire, says farming the insect is easy and straightforward. “The process of farming itself isn’t overly complicated. Someone who is uneducated but industrious can do it and get it up and running in a short amount of time,” Ashour told CNN.
The enterprise is in its earliest stage, having only started in 2013. It will need to grow substantially and learn from its current projects to impact food security globally. Entomophagy, the human consumption of insects for food, is as old of a practice as humans themselves. Perhaps economizing the practice is the way to promote stable and nutritious diets for the world in the future.
– Joseph McAdams
Sources: Aspire, CISR Blog, CNN, World Bank
Photo: LGCNews
LGBT Health in Africa
More and more countries around the world are opening their arms to welcome and embrace LGBT pride. Although not everyone in these countries are in complete agreement on LGBT rights, the presence of the LGBT community in mainstream media demonstrates increasing open-mindedness.
However, the opposite seems to be the case in Africa. 36 out of Africa’s 55 states outlaw homosexuality. Homosexuals in Nigeria are locked up for 14 years while their Ugandan counterparts face life sentences. Moreover, the Ugandan government expects its citizens to report suspected gay friends and family.
Incarceration is not the only injustice homosexual Africans face. In South Africa, where same-sex marriage is legal, homosexuals, especially lesbians, still face violence and “corrective” rape. By ostracizing homosexual individuals, communities deny rights to these individuals and inhibit their access to economic opportunities and basic health needs.
Homosexual individuals face difficulties finding jobs, whether they are searching for a willing employer or trying to start their own business. They are mocked, shunned and even assaulted. Due to these injustices, there are high poverty rates in the LGBT community where people suffer from hunger and insecurity.
Also, by denying a large part of health care access to homosexuals, the rate of HIV/AIDS continues to climb among the LGBT community, especially among men who have sex with other men. In South Africa, the rate of HIV/AIDS among gay men is as high as 38 percent. To avoid discrimination, these men avoid seeking medical care and avoid discussing their health issues with health care professionals. This delay in seeking treatment is detrimental and without proper care and education, infected individuals may spread the disease. The incidence of HIV/AIDS has a strong foothold in South Africa, with the overall prevalence being 17.8 percent.
The stringent African laws make it difficult for foreign intervention and reform. Foreign disapproval of Africa’s anti-LGBT legislation is a sensitive subject. When British Prime Minister David Cameron said that British aid should be conditional based on how Africa handled its human rights, there was an outcry that Britain was being colonially oppressive by introducing “western values.”
However, as Chimamanda Achebe, a Nigerian novelist, has stated, love and sexual intercourse are not divided as either “African” or “Western.” Love does not fall under any political jurisdiction.
There is also a moral question behind using humanitarian aid as a negotiating wager in order to press for LGBT rights in Africa. The humanitarian aid that countries withdraw in protest could be potential funding for African schools and hospitals. Also, the governments in Africa are unfazed by Western countries’ suspension of certain donations, since Africa can turn to China as an economic partner. This approach of coercing African governments has made very little headway.
Even if Africa were to yield their anti-LGBT legislation, it would be based on money. Western countries’ use of bargaining donations and aid to change deeply set morals in Africa is a superficial tactic.
Instead, foreign governments should help local African activist groups gain the attention of their governments. Aid and support from foreign relief agencies should be directed to these local humanitarian groups, to help them lobby their governments and bring social justice. It’s a fight for the people by the people, with international governments to back them up.
There is an LGBT Project in South Africa that aims to understand why unsafe sex occurs among LGBT individuals, so as to better help these individuals. The project also hopes to increase funding for other partner activist projects, and use advocacy campaigns to establish the needs of gay men as a priority in the National AIDS Council.
The Public Health Program’s Sexual Health and Rights Project (SHARP) is also working to advocate for LGBT health rights in Eastern and Southern Africa by looking into the needs of the LGBT community and collecting data and reports.
There are many advocacy groups and projects in Africa and around the world. Western governments should actively engage with these groups in order to understand how supporting these communities can drive social change.
– Carmen Tu
Sources: Bridging the Gaps, Huffington Post, Human Rights First, Open Society Foundaitons, Sida
Photo: Bridging the Gaps,
Problems Along the Kurdistan Border
The recent turmoil taking place in Iraq has caused massive changes in the political, social and cultural landscape of the country. One interesting area that hasn’t been given very much attention is Kurdistan, located in the northernmost portion of the country.
The semi-autonomous region has remained very stable, which is particularly intriguing considering that the rest of the country is beginning to unravel. As a result, it has become a very desirable destination for Iraqi refugees suffering from the turmoil in their local communities; the number of Iraqis attempting to cross the Kurdistan border has grown.
When conflict first started to break out in Iraq, the Kurdistan borders were open for any Iraqi who needed shelter and security. In the immediate aftermath of ISIS taking Mosul, around 500,000 Iraqis made their way into Kurdistan. However, more recently the border has been significantly tightened as fewer and fewer people are able to cross into Kurdistan.
According to various NGOs working along the border, checkpoints have been increasingly closed off to migrants, leaving thousands waiting for days on end in the blazing heat. This wait is made even worse by a severe lack of information and limited access to food, water and shelter.
One major checkpoint, Khazair, does have a transit camp that is open to those waiting to get into Kurdistan. It offers some modicum of shelter and safety, but very little comfort. A recent report from REACH has indicated that just under half of the refugees were at the camp because they had been refused entry into Kurdistan.
Despite these less than ideal circumstances along the Kurdish border, there’s an even deeper layer to the process of entering the area. Various rights groups have brought attention to different levels of access offered to people and families based on their religious affiliation and ethnicity. Kurds, Christians, and those who have sponsors inside Kurdistan are able to cross with relative ease.
In comparison, Sunni and Shia Arabs have been regularly stopped and/or sent to temporary holding sites. As one senior aid worker from an NGO who chose to remain anonymous said, “The blocking of entry to people along ethnic lines is an issue and it needs to be looked at.”
This problem is only exacerbated by the fact that the Kurdish Regional Government has no well-defined entry policy for their region. As Liene Viede, a public information officer for the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) explained: “There is no general and common access policy… According to the observations of our monitors, access policies applied at checkpoints are increasingly unpredictable.”
It remains to be seen how badly this discrimination is affecting the overall access to Kurdistan, or whether more complete or better defined regulations regarding border crossings are in the works. However, the lack of predictability and potential for conflict along ethnic lines is beginning to loom large in what is considered to be one of the most stable areas in the country.
– Andre Gobbo
Sources: IRIN 1, REACH, IRIN 2
Photo: The Guardian
UK Campaign Raises Awareness of Modern Slavery
“Slavery is closer than you think” is the slogan of a new campaign in the United Kingdom to raise awareness of slavery happening in the country. The Home Office has launched a two-month campaign that aims to encourage those experiencing modern-day slavery to come forward and seek help from the government, as well as to urge the public to report anyone suspected of enslaving others.
Modern slavery is a major problem in the U.K. The Human Trafficking Foundation estimates that around 20,000 people are living in slavery throughout the country. The three most common types of slavery are agricultural labor, sexual exploitation in a brothel and domestic servitude in another’s home.
Many cases of slavery have been reported lately. In November, three women were discovered in a house in south London after being held there for 30 years of domestic servitude. In another case, James and Josie Connors were convicted of manipulating and exploiting destitute men for their own financial gain in Bedfordshire.
The slogan encompasses the campaign’s main idea, which is that these examples of modern slavery are going on everywhere, like in average households and families.
A new national helpline, supported by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), has also been created to offer information for victims of slavery on how to get help, and to educate the general public on how to accurately report persecutors.
The goal of the campaign is to raise awareness for these previously unknown situations. Through various forms of advertising, the U.K. government hopes to see more victims seeking help and more people reporting the crimes.
Home Secretary Theresa May said, “The first step to stamping out modern slavery is acknowledging and confronting its existence. This campaign aims to bring this hidden crime out into the open and challenges us all to report it wherever we suspect it.”
– Hannah Cleveland
Sources: The Guardian, BBC
Photo: The Guardian