LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Anti-slavery campaigners called today for a major increase in research and funding to treat the mental trauma suffered by survivors of slavery, including victims of sex trafficking and bonded labour. The experience of being trafficked and enslaved makes people highly vulnerable to further exploitation even when they have escaped, experts said in a report.
However, very little research has been done into the most effective ways to treat survivors to ensure they can rebuild their lives and protect themselves from further harm.
“We know that addressing the mental health needs of survivors is critical to halting generational cycles of violence and exploitation,” said Nick Grono, head of the Freedom Fund which commissioned the report. The study, carried out by the Helen Bamber Foundation, came as the International Labour Organisation (ILO) was due to launch a campaign in London to end modern slavery.
Worldwide, nearly 36 million people are enslaved, according to the Global Slavery Index, which ranks the worst countries as Mauritania, Uzbekistan, Haiti, Qatar and India. The ILO estimates illicit profits from forced labour to be $150 billion a year. Slavery survivors often suffer severe mental health problems including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety, according to the report.
Cornelius Katona, medical director at the Helen Bamber Foundation which helps victims of rights abuses, said slavery survivors tend to have significant issues with trust and a reduced ability to make decisions and behave independently.
They also have difficulties with assessing risk in new relationships, leaving them vulnerable to being exploited again.
“Rather than learning from what has happened, and thereby being less likely to be exploited again, in fact the opposite happens,” added Katona, the report’s co-author.