Last week, British Olympian Sir Mo Farah opened up publicly for the first time about how he was trafficked from west Africa to the UK at the age of nine under false papers.
In a BBC documentary, the international sports star also revealed that Mo Farah was not his real name, but the name he was given upon arrival in London where he was forced to carry out domestic work and care for the children of another family. His real name is Hussein Abdi Kahin.
It’s taken Farah 30 years to build up the courage to tell the truth. But for many other victims of trafficking — those who do not have Farah’s fame and profile — stigma and fear prevents them from speaking out.
Many of these are based in Ireland where an estimated 8,000 victims of trafficking are living. Among these are many children, who like Farah, feel they must hide the truth to protect their safety.
These children also struggle with the extreme trauma of being separated from their family, Sally Hayden, who reports from Africa for The Irish Times, told the In the News Podcast.
Many trafficked people also fear the immigration implications if they reveal the truth, said Hayden.
“Something we definitely see is the more hostile the immigration policy of a country, the more people will be frightened to speak out and that is actually one of tools that traffickers use,” said Hayden. “They say, if you report this, you’re going to be deported.”
Political rhetoric around trafficking also tends to focus on punishing the most vulnerable people, she added. “Even the UK Rwanda policy, those are the most vulnerable people that will be sent to Rwanda but the justification the British government is they want to break the business model of traffickers.
“But having reported on trafficking trials when there was no international interest, I always question why they don’t just go after the actual traffickers. That would obviously break the models much more effectively.”
Today, on In the News, Will Mo Farah’s story help other victims of human trafficking?
In The News is presented by Sorcha Pollak and Conor Pope and produced by Declan Conlan, Suzanne Brennan and Jennifer Ryan.
