unseen was established in 2008
after a disturbing visit to Ukraine by its founder.
Whilst
working in an orphanage, the question was asked: 'Where do the children go once
they leave here?'. The response was both shocking and heart-breaking. It was
discovered that many children, once they reach 16 and are ready to leave the
orphanage, become involved in crime, gangs, prostitution or will be trafficked.
Here are some Ukraine trafficking
statistics (source: 2008)
• 80% of all unemployed people in
Ukraine are women.
• Ukraine is a source, transit
and destination country for trafficked persons for the purpose of sexual
exploitation.
• Up to half a million Ukrainian
women have been trapped and enslaved and trafficked into the West.
• Of Ukrainian women who go
abroad for a better chance to work, 80% end up working in the sex industry.
• In 2008, Ukraine was one of the
largest exporters of women to the international sex industry.
As
more extensive research began the founders of unseen realised this was not a
problem unique to Ukraine but that, the world over, countries were sending and
receiving trafficked people. Even in the UK, women were and still are being
bought, sold and traded to be exploited for sexual services.
They were compelled to act, and unseen was formed to help battle this.
Their purpose is to work towards the
eradication of slavery wherever it is found, providing survivors with safety,
hope and choice.
unseen
believes that the most effective way of achieving their goal is to tackle the
issue holistically and operate in the following three arenas:
1.) Prevention: To
support and develop frontline projects that actively seek to help vulnerable
people from becoming enslaved both here in the UK as a destination country and
in source countries. To raise awareness of human trafficking and deliver
training courses to inform and equip people to spot the signs of trafficking
and subsequently know how to act. (Training and
consultancy)
2.) Survivors support: To
initiate and lead projects that will directly help survivors re-establish their
lives, begin the process of recovering from the horrific ordeals they have been
subjected to and avoid becoming re-enslaved.
(Support Services, Projects in
development)
3.) Working with others: To work with government at all levels, its agencies, other NGOs and
commercial businesses to raise awareness, gather information and act to prevent
slavery and support survivors. (Centre for
Social Justice, Partnerships)
Donate to unseen to make a difference. Your generous support, fundraising and financial donations mean that
they are a step closer to ending modern-day slavery. Your generous support
means:
· unseen can continue to help restore the lives of more women who have
been trafficked by providing increased access to the right support services
· unseen can develop better support and protection for vulnerable children
identified as being trafficked
· unseen can help inform and equip those who encounter potential victims
to quickly spot the signs of exploitation and know how to act
· unseen can continue to influence policy and practices being developed to
support survivors of trafficking
·
Donate Directly
·
Donate via PayPal
·
Donate via CAF
·
Donate via JustGiving
·
Donate via Virgin
Money Giving
Alternatively,
unseen has an opportunity to Sponsor a Room. This
programme gives you the opportunity to play a direct part in supporting unseen’s
work with survivors of human trafficking and, more importantly, provide them
with the safety, hope and choice they deserve. Your regular gift will help to
provide survivors with 24-hour specialist care and enable them to move forward
with their lives.
If
you would rather donate goods, why not send a Care Package directly
to one of the survivors? It makes such a difference if survivors can receive
something of their own, to keep, as the first step in their rehabilitation.
Blessings!
Ronell
x
“It's not how much we give but how much love we put into giving.” {Mother
Teresa}
