A charity established with the purpose of combating the problem of human trafficking at a local level has received crucial support from Power NI – Northern Ireland’s largest electricity supplier.
Volunteers working at Invisible Trafficking are using the £1000 of funding to raise public awareness of the criminal practice – and the indicators also commonly associated with modern day slavery. This will be conducted through a series of workshops, awareness events, and planned fundraisers.
Estimates suggest up to 136,000 people are currently trapped in slavery in the UK, with this taking a number of forms, including cannabis farming, sexual exploitation, domestic slavery, and forced labour in a wide number of industries such as agriculture, construction, retail and entertainment.
Almost half (46%) of trafficking victims are women, 34% are children and 20% are men, with 50% of victims trafficked into sexual exploitation, and 38% into forced labour by organised criminals. In all cases, force, fraud, coercion, or deception are often used with the sole goal of making money.
The support from Power NI has been awarded through Brighter Communities – a programme that assists innovative and emerging community groups. Since the start of 2018, more than £85,000 in funding has been awarded to ensure the life-changing work of these organisations can continue.
Invisible Traffick CEO Gayle Bunting said: “We are delighted to have been awarded funding from Power NI Brighter Communities Fund. As a charity that strives to shine a light on human trafficking modern slavery, we will use this funding to continue our mission of making the invisible, visible.
“We want to thank Power NI for their support; it is through meaningful partnerships such as this that we can safeguard people and make everyone in Northern Ireland aware of the sign and indicators of human trafficking modern slavery,” she added.
Part of the Brighter Communities funding will be allocated to purchasing equipment and materials deemed vital for delivering impactful talks and workshops to community and youth groups. This will include a new projector for displaying presentations and playing awareness-raising videos, as well as new banners and marketing materials that will be handed out to people.
Ashleigh O’Neill – Senior Marketing and Communications Executive at Power NI – said: “We are proud to support Invisible Traffick's efforts in combating human trafficking and modern-day slavery. This donation represents our commitment to empowering organisations like Invisible Traffick to make a real difference in our communities.”
Find out more on how Power NI is energising local communities.
