Group partners NAPTIP to rescue three trafficked victims in Dubai

.Opens human trafficking prevention exhibition in New London

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, (NAPTIP), has said that it is working with organisers of ‘Stop Human Trafficking’ exhibition in New London, the ‘Send Them Home Group’, to return three Nigerian victims home.

Founder of ‘Send Them Home’ and ‘Hope Education Project’, Angus Thomas, said the exhibition is part of the group’s campaign toward helping repatriate Nigerian and other African women trafficked to the UAE for forced sex work. He said the ‘Hope Education’ is a pilot education programme by the organisation in Ghana aimed at tackling human trafficking at its source.

“This exhibition provides a platform for these important stories to be heard. Like many vulnerable women the world over, they were cruelly manipulated and exploited – with officials seemingly allowing human trafficking to flourish and sex workers to operate openly in the UAE’s lavish international hotels.

“Yet in the face of deception, adversity, and abuse, these women have shown incredible strength and bravery. Shining a light on the dark underground world of human trafficking through this immersive exhibition empowers visitors with the knowledge of the survivors ‘experiences to recognise and, one day I hope, eradicate human trafficking for good,” Thomas said.

The exhibition which opens 17th November 2023, features survivors of human trafficking and offers opportunity for some of thousands of vulnerable women who arrive in Dubai every year from Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and across Africa after being sold on false promises of working in well-paid jobs in the UAE, however, when they arrive, many are tricked into forced sex work.

According to a communique from the Press unit of NAPTIP, victims’ passports are often confiscated by their traffickers, the women are told that to regain their travel documents and their freedom, they must pay their employer huge sums by engaging in sex work.

It also notes that the exhibition is an immersive journey into the dark and complex world of human trafficking, providing visitors with an opportunity to hear real testimonies from survivors and activists from Africa and around the world.