Year In Review shows record number of rescues and thousands trained globally

Hope for Justice was involved with 134 rescues in 2015/16, which is 82% up on the year before. Globally, our training was delivered to nearly 6,600 people, including police, probation officers, healthcare professionals, social workers and teachers.

These successes and many more are revealed in our Year In Review, published this week.

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                                                                                            The document also outlines continued progress on Hope for Justice’s US activities, under program director Dave Rogers, a federal criminal investigator for more than 23 years who formerly oversaw the FBI’s Human Trafficking program within its Civil Rights Unit.

BenCooley_TI3Ben Cooley, CEO of Hope for Justice (pictured, right), said: “It’s been a year of growth and expansion of our programmes and through these we have served even more people. Throughout the year, our teams on the frontline have been working with record number of victims, and while we delight in the increased numbers we are reporting, we cherish as individuals the people we have been privileged to rescue.

“Following all of our successes this year, we’re positioned to do even more in the years ahead. Today we’re one step closer to achieving our vision: To live in a world free from slavery.”

During 2015/16, Hope for Justice expanded its operations by opening a new office in Norway, and by opening the new Lighthouse Assessment Center in Cambodia. The Lighthouse provides essential services to girls for the initial eight-week period after they are rescued, and over the course of the year, 81 women and girls entered into care. Of these, 72% were victims of sexual exploitation, and others of forced labour or child labour.

In the UK, Hope for Justice’s Survivor Support team worked with rescued survivors to ensure their recovery, helping them with emergency food parcels, counselling, alcohol support, mental health services, English classes, employability support and more. Of the clients supported, 14 entered employment during the year.

The charity also continued and expanded its close working relationship with police forces and other agencies, prompting Chief Constable Shaun Sawyer of Devon and Cornwall Police, who is the UK’s National Police Lead for Modern Slavery, to say: “Hope for Justice is among those organisations taking the lead in addressing the issue of modern day slavery in today’s Great Britain. Their organisation is the only NGO working from the point of rescue right through to advocacy.”

Hope for Justice is active in four countries: the UK, USA, Cambodia and Norway.

The full Year In Review can be viewed or downloaded here.