GIFT box is an innovative project giving communities an opportunity to raise awareness of human trafficking during the 2012 Olympics. It is an enticing community sculpture, created by UN.GIFT and STOP THE TRAFFIK, that people will encounter at street level in London and will invite them to come inside and find out more...
Human trafficking is to be deceived or taken against your will, bought, sold and transported into slavery for labour and/or sexual exploitation. This can include labour in sweat shops, child brides, sacrificial worship, forced begging and street crime, sale of human organs, farm labour, domestic servitude and cannabis cultivation. Human trafficking happens everywhere in the world, including in the UK, across and within borders.
| HUMAN TRAFFICKING IS | ||
|---|---|---|
| THE ACT OF | BY THE MEANS OF | FOR THE PURPOSE OF |
| Recruitment | Threat or use of force | Exploitation, including: |
| Transport | Coercion | Prostitution of others |
| Transfer | Abduction | Sexual exploitation |
| Harbouring | Fraud | Forced labour |
| Receipt of persons | Deception | Slavery or similar practices |
| Abuse of power or vulnerability Giving payments or benefits | Removal of organs Other types of exploitation | |
Domestic servitude (people living with a family and working as a domestic servant or nanny) is one of the forms of human trafficking which is prevalent on the streets of London.
Signs are that the person
- is rarely allowed OUT OF THE HOUSE ALONE
- is forced to WORK IN EXCESS OF NORMAL WORKING HOURS or is 'on-call' 24 hours per day
- is subject to ABUSE, insults, threats or violence
- has NO PRIVATE SPACE or a proper place to sleep i.e. may sleep on the sofa or in a study
- has a POOR DIET or are given the family's leftover food to eat
- If the person is a child, they may have POOR ATTENDANCE at school, no access to education and no time to play
- the person DOES NOT INTERACT much with the family
If you spot the traffik contact
- if the person's life is in immediate danger: the police on 999
- if you see something suspicious: Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111
Marta's employer in Tanzania offered her the opportunity to come to London as a domestic worker. With the promise of money which would pay for her daughter's education and improve life for her family, she accepted.
When Marta arrived, her passport was taken from her to prevent her from leaving. Driven to a house in a leafy London suburb, she was threatened and locked within the family home. She was trapped there for the next 4 years, kept in the house most of the time, and prevented from learning English. Working 15 to 18 hour days, Marta carried out every wish of the family, responding whenever they rang a bell, day or night. With no bed but a thin mattress, Marta could not get sufficient sleep, and was not given sufficient food or the money that was promised. Forced to stay in the UK, Marta missed her daughter's wedding and never saw her parents alive again.
The police were eventually made aware of Marta's situation when she became critically ill. She was taken to a refuge, and her captor was charged and prosecuted for exploiting a person for domestic servitude. It was the first time in the United Kingdom that someone was prosecuted for this crime. This was in 2011. Marta's trafficker was given a nine-month prison sentence, and was ordered to pay £ 25,000 in compensation to Marta.
Want to be a 2012 Olympics volunteer?
You can volunteer at a GIFT box during the Olympics to engage others in what they can do to prevent human trafficking! You can volunteer with a group such as your friends, community group or work colleagues, or you can get involved as an individual.
Host a box?
Would you like to provide a site for a GIFT box in a strategic location in London or one of the other Olympic locations in the period July - September 2012, please contact us and receive an invitation to the GIFT box host meeting in November 2011 or January 2012.
Sponsor a box?
You have the opportunity to make your voice heard during the Olympics by sponsoring a GIFT box. Over half of the boxes have already been sponsored. If you would like to sponsor one, some or all of the remaining boxes, applications will be reviewed in the order in which they are received, so please get in touch as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
To get involved contact us at: ungiftbox@stopthetraffik.org
During the summer of 2012 thousands of hopeful athletes will choose to travel from
around the world to win gold in London at the Olympics. But every minute, of every hour, of
every day, men, women and children are forced to travel around the world to make gold for someone else;
they have been trafficked.
Even as the athletes prepare for their arrival in the United Kingdom in pursuit of their dream of winning gold,
other men and women are being forced into coming to the country in search of a better
future, only to find that for them there is only ever one winner – their trafficker.
It is our responsibly to take this opportunity to alert the world to the reality of this tragic crime; to inspire visitors gathered in this city for the Games of the XXX Olympiad - residents from thousands of towns and cities – to become aware and take action to stop this crime.
By encouraging and facilitating cooperation and coordination, UN.GIFT aims to create
synergies among the anti-trafficking activities of UN agencies, international organisations and
other stakeholders to develop the most efficient and cost-effective tools and good practices.
UN.GIFT works to ensure that everybody takes responsibility for this fight.
To find out more about the work of UN.GIFT please click here.
STOP THE TRAFFIK is a global grassroots movement that prevents human trafficking through
campaign-driven community action. Our growing network of activists around the world raises
awareness about how human trafficking affects local communities and equips them to take
action to tackle it. We build local partnerships with police, authorities, businesses that deliver
real change on the ground, and shape international action through our global partnerships with
the United Nations and the Serious Organised Crime Agency. Our community campaigns have
made concrete contributions to preventing human trafficking.
To find out more about our campaigns and help spot and stop the traffik click here.
Do you want to know more? Contact us at ungiftbox@stopthetraffik.org to receive more news on the GIFT box.
