Today is March 25th and - just in case you have no clue why that date is significant to us in the Caribbean - it marks the anniversary of the Slave Trade Act of 1807 by which the British Parliament abolished the trade in slaves in the British Empire. (If you are not a student of history, you can read the Wikipedia version here.)
True, the abolition of the institution of slavery itself occurred nearly 30 years later but this 1807 legislation was a proverbial "nail in the coffin" for slavery when it was passed. It came after decades of hard work, lobbying, and sacrifice from stalwarts like the Three Williams (Grenville, Wilberforce, and Pitt) and many other abolitionists. And it coincided with the declining fortunes and waning influence of the plantation class in the British Parliament. But not before an estimated 4.5 million Africans were stolen from the continent and brought to the West Indies.
Fast forward to the 21st century where human trafficking is being referred to in some quarters as modern slavery (actually, the two are not the same but more on that in a subsequent post). The 2 atrocities maintain this similarity, however - each takes a heavy physical, mental, and economic toll on the victims and their families which requires a long time for many to overcome.
For many, the term "Human Trafficking" is a buzzword, conjuring up images of women and girls in various states of undress being chained or tied with ropes after being Taken (a great movie, by the way) by force and sold for sex.
However, the law enforcement investigations and case law tell a different story. So now there is a greater appreciation of the role pre-existing vulnerabilities such as ACEs play in the predisposition of persons who are victimised in human trafficking.
We encourage members who have an interest in this topic of human trafficking to post articles, resources, and other information about it here in the Community. Examples of such posts include how human trafficking intersects with childhood trauma, how ACEs relate to Trans-Atlantic slavery, how post-slavery reparations (for which some CARICOM countries have been calling, rather unsuccessfully to date) may help to address multi-generational trauma of descendants of former African slaves or any other link you may wish to make.
Our historical experiences in the Caribbean region equip us to approach this issue from many unique perspectives and we invite you to do so. If you have published articles on this issue, feel free to share the link to the article in a post and/or upload a PDF as a Resource.
We'll be sharing about ACEs and human trafficking through posts and resource sharing on the 25th of every month and on other dates of significance. So be on the look-out for those posts. ð
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