Visiting Hestia Headquarters: With Exclusive Interview Clip

I visited the Hestia headquarters yesterday to meet modern slavery response team leader, Stephen Walsh. The organisation aims to help victims that have previously been exploited in London Borough areas.

The charity that helps the majority of modern slavery cases in London has supported over 1,600 victims of modern slavery and human trafficking in the UK. In 2016, 1 out of 4 victims of modern slavery in England were supported by Hestia.

Hestia issued a report in November, titled 'Underground Lives - The reality of modern slavery in London.' The study based on the experiences of 624 victims, showed that in 2016, two thirds of the victims they supported in London had been forced into prostitution.

This is one of the diagrams used in the report, outlining the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) which is the system used to report potential victims of modern slavery.

For the full 'Underground Lives' report, download here.

After interviewing Stephen about issues which will be revealed later in my final article - he also told how there are growing concerns about the long term care of victims. His opinion on how this can be eradicated is exclusively revealed as followed:

The time spent with Stephen was extremely valuable as it allowed me to see first hand the amazing work that is being done for survivors of modern-day slavery. It also allowed me to see the point of view of a well established charity and their needs from higher officials to be able to further aid the victims of modern slavery in the UK.

For more information visit: Hestia - The Modern Slavery Response Team