Phones, clothes and timber: How the UK is supporting global slavery as 50 million remain trapped
When Nasreen was just a young child, she saw her 12 -year-old sister forced into marriage, and her mother warned her she would be next.
At the age of around nine, with the help of a male cousin, she fled her small rural Nepalese village – she can’t say exactly how old she was because her birth was never recorded.
She arrived in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal with nothing – not even a last name – and spent 15 hours a day toiling in a sweatshop, creating garments that would later be flown to department stores in wealthy countries.
At night, she would fall asleep on the piles of clothes and dream about where they would end up.
“I was looking for freedom and a better life and I ended up as forced child labour, in one of these tiny rooms in a textile factory with six others – it was loosely regulated, no windows and the doors locked,” she told Sky News.
Nasreen eventually escaped the cycle of slavery with the help of a mentor, and adopted the surname Sheikh – which in Arabic translates as ‘Chief of the Tribe’. She now works as the co-director of the Empowerment Collective, A US-based group that helps eradicate modern-day slavery by giving marginalised women the support and skills they need to ensure their self-sufficiency and dignity.
But the latest Global Slavery Index from International human rights organisation Walk Free found more than 50 million people around the world live in modern slavery, exacerbated by warfare, the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change.
And the problem is only getting worse – some 10 million more people are enslaved compared to five years ago.
While the UK was found to have taken the most action to combat modern slavery (followed by the Netherlands and Portugal) it remains complicit. Nearly two-thirds of all forced labour cases are connected to global supply chains.
The UK accounted for £21bn in at-risk imported products, including electronics, fish, garments, textiles and timber.
People living in higher-income countries “need to start asking questions about the clothes you are wearing, the phone you have in your pocket or the seaweed you ate last night,” Nasreen said.
“Those things contain slavery.”
How the UK imports slave-made goods
Nasreen said that while the number of enslaved people in parts of the Western world is low – statistics suggest 122,000 living in modern slavery in the UK – “it does not mean that slavery is not there” – but it is just being imported.
“Forced labour is found in low-income countries, but it is deeply connected to demand from higher income countries,” she said.
“These people are hidden, invisible. They don’t have a voice. They are so traumatised they can’t speak for themselves.”
Worldwide, over half of those in modern slavery, like Nasreen, are female. A quarter are children.
Women and girls are disproportionately at risk of forced marriage, accounting for 68% of all people forced to marry.
However, estimates remain conservative – UNICEF suggests that worldwide there are 650 million women and girls who were married before the age of 18.
Nasreen said her sister was “terrified” and crying when she was forced into marriage.
Mahendra was a former migrant worker in Saudi Arabia – and now campaigns for better rights for workers
“But everyone said, that’s how it goes, when they get married they cry,” she said.
“I asked my mother why are you forcing my sister and she said that it’s not that I’m doing it – this is how our culture is.
“This is how our society is – this is what happened to me, this is what happened to your sister, next it will happen to you.”
“Child labour and modern-day slavery are so normalised in our part of the world,” she added. “A lot of victims don’t see it as an issue because the trauma is normalised too.”
Migrant workers
The report from Walk Free found migrant workers are more than three times more likely to be in forced labour than non-migrant workers.
Mahendra Pandey, a former migrant worker in Saudi Arabia, said people like him “enter the country in good faith”.
He continued: “But once were are there, and when we can’t go back to our own country, we face discrimination, abuses and exploitations.”
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The global community is now even further from achieving the goals it agreed to make a priority and no government is on track to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goal 8.7 of ending modern slavery, forced labour, and human trafficking by 2030.
“Modern slavery permeates every aspect of our society. It is woven through our clothes, lights up our electronics, and seasons our food. At its core, modern slavery is a manifestation of extreme inequality,” said Founding Director of Walk Free, Grace Forrest.
“It is a mirror held to power, reflecting who in any given society has it and who does not. Nowhere is this paradox more present than in our global economy through transnational supply chains.”
Porn star Stormy Daniels has described to jurors an awkward and unexpected sexual encounter she claims she had with Donald Trump in 2006.
Ms Daniels was testifying at the former president’s criminal trial over hush money she was paid to keep silent about the alleged encounter during the presidential race.
But it was not all bad news for Mr Trump. On the day the court heard from Ms Daniels, his trial in Florida on charges of illegally keeping classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence after leaving office, scheduled to start on 20 May, was postponed indefinitely by a federal judge.
Ms Daniels, 45, speaking at the “hush money” trial, said she tried not to think about having sex with him while it was allegedly taking place.
Trump trial as it happened: Raging ex-president calls for mistrial over ‘difficult to control’ witness Stormy Daniels
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Stormy Daniels recalls bedroom encounter with Trump
Mr Trump, 76, stared straight ahead when she entered the courtroom and occasionally shook his head and whispered to his lawyer.
After the lunch break, Mr Trump’s defence lawyers demanded a mistrial over what they said were prejudicial and irrelevant comments.
The judge rejected the defence’s request and said defence lawyers should have raised more objections during the testimony.
Later in the day, the Trump team used its opportunity to question Ms Daniels to paint her as motivated by personal hatred of the former president and hoping to profit off her claims against him.
“Am I correct that you hate President Trump?” defence lawyer Susan Necheles asked.
“Yes,” Ms Daniels acknowledged.
Donald Trump in court. Pic: Reuters
Stormy Daniels in Manhattan in 2018. Pic: AP
Hush money payment
In the final weeks of Mr Trump’s 2016 Republican presidential campaign, his then-lawyer and personal fixer Michael Cohen paid Ms Daniels $130,000 (£103,000) to keep quiet about what she described as an awkward and unexpected sexual encounter with Mr Trump at a celebrity golf outing in Lake Tahoe in July 2006.
Mr Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations in 2018 related to the payments and served more than a year in prison – with federal prosecutors saying he acted at Mr Trump’s direction.
Mr Trump, the Republican candidate for president again this year, has pleaded not guilty to charges of falsifying business records to cover up the payment and denies having sex with Ms Daniels.
Trump’s ex-personal lawyer Michael Cohen served more than a year in prison. Pic: AP
Imbalance of power
Ms Daniels described how an initial meeting at the golf tournament, where they discussed the adult film industry, progressed to a “brief” sexual encounter she said Mr Trump initiated after inviting her to dinner and back to his hotel suite.
She said she did not feel physically or verbally threatened during the encounter, but she perceived an imbalance of power, with Mr Trump being “bigger and blocking the way”.
She said she found it “hard to get my shoes” after it ended “because my hands were shaking so hard”.
“He said, ‘Oh, it was great. Let’s get together again, honey bunch’,” Ms Daniels said. “I just wanted to leave.”
Read more:
This was Donald Trump with his trousers down – no doubt | James Matthews
Daniels expected to return to witness stand
Mr Trump has been charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with the hush money payments.
Speaking outside of court at the end of the day, Mr Trump said: “This was a very big day, a very revealing day. As you see their case is totally falling apart.”
Ms Daniels is expected to return to the witness stand when the trial resumes tomorrow.
There are moments, more than others, that scream the humiliation of it all.
Take this, before Tuesday’s proceedings got underway. “No descriptions of genitalia or anything but it’s important to elicit that she had sex with him.”
It was the prosecution’s assurance prior to questioning Stormy Daniels after Donald Trump’s lawyers had objected, in advance, to her testifying to the details of sexual acts.
It would be that kind of day in this kind of trial.
Trump trial as it happened: Stormy Daniels accused of car park ‘threat’ lie
In a dingy New York courtroom, this was the president and the porn star, together again, in a reunion most reductive for Mr Trump.
He might have secured guarantees on anatomical detail but, from the moment the court heard “The People call Stormy Daniels” this was Mr Trump with his trousers down, no doubt.
Ms Daniels told her story, of growing up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the daughter of a single mother. She edited her high school newspaper, enjoyed ballet dancing and horses and had ambitions to be a technician.
By the time she met Mr Trump, aged 27, we learned she was an adult film actress and director, star of the likes of 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up.
By her telling, the Trump encounter was more Austin Powers – the penthouse suite, the satin pyjamas and the spanking with a rolled-up magazine.
“Bullshit,” Mr Trump was heard to mutter. His problem is that this kind of bullshit sticks.
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Stormy Daniels recalls bedroom encounter with Trump
Whatever his lawyers’ protestations about Ms Daniels’ credibility – and there are holes – that’s hardly the headline for a watching, voting, public.
What will they take from court to the polling booth in November? Quite apart from the imagery, what message does it send to key demographics?
An affair with a porn star, whilst married, is a poor fit with the principles of evangelicals, so critical to the Trump vote in 2016. Suburban women might also reel from this tawdry peek backstage at the presidency.
How much will Mr Trump worry? About $130,000 (£103,000) worth. It is the premium he paid to stop the story coming out in the first place.
Sadly, for him, the insurance policy has run out.
World
Israel-Hamas war: Hostages’ families urge PM Benjamin Netanyahu to take a deal to get their loved ones home
There is anxiety in Museum Square in Tel Aviv – a space which has turned into a commemoration centre for the 132 hostages still held by Hamas.
A place for quiet contemplation, as well as for crowds who gather hand-in-hand to solemnly sing Israel‘s national anthem.
An agreement to get the hostages out of Gaza is far from certain.
The crowd sings Israel’s national anthem in Tel Aviv
Israel-Gaza war: Latest updates
There is so much confusion around any potential deal.
But most people here want their prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to come to an agreement and get the captives back home.
We had a chance encounter with Yehuda Cohen.
His 19-year-old son Nimrod Cohen, an Israeli soldier, was taken on 7 October.
Mr Cohen’s message to Israel’s leadership was simple – take a deal.
Right now, however, he is not very hopeful.
“Nothing is moving, we will feel better when something will start moving, that a deal will be on the table, agreed and hostages will start being released,” he said.
Yehuda Cohen, father of Nimrod Cohen
Nimrod Cohen is among the hostages
Mr Cohen had particular criticism for Mr Netanyahu.
He said of the PM: “He has his own considerations, mainly his private considerations – he wants to survive, he’s thinking only about himself.”
Mr Cohen even challenged Mr Netanyahu in person a few weeks ago about whether a ceasefire would guarantee the release of all the hostages. He did not get an answer.
Simona Steinbrecher, mother of Doron Steinbrecher
Doron Steinbrecher
Read more:
How Israel seized key border crossing
Netanyahu’s choice – accept ceasefire deal or gamble on Rafah incursion
Doron Steinbrecher, a 31-year-old veterinary nurse, lived at Kibbutz Kfar Aza when Hamas took her away.
The only proof of her abduction was a solitary message on WhatsApp.
“They’ve arrived, they have me,” she wrote.
Her mother Simona Steinbrecher thinks of little else all day.
She says any deal should be accepted to get her daughter back home.
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But she admits: “I’m afraid the deal won’t be done, so I don’t even let myself think about it.
“Until someone tells me – Simona, your daughter has come back, I don’t think about it.”
Seven months into this conflict, following Hamas’ killings and kidnappings, the latest talk of an agreement – however near or far it could be – simply provides no relief for so many hostage families.
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