Abused, imprisoned Vietnamese slave away in UK's cannabis farms - TRFN
Abused, imprisoned Vietnamese slave away in UK's cannabis farms - TRFN
Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation - Thu, 26 Feb 2015 00:01 GMT
By Katie Nguyen
LONDON, Feb 26 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Criminal defence lawyer Philippa Southwell points to the thick ring binders that line her desk in a small office above a bookie's and fast food joint in south London.
More folders are neatly stacked on the floor, in a bookcase and a metal filing cabinet, a hint of her growing caseload.
In recent years, Southwell has specialised in representing a particular kind of client: the mainly young men and boys who are trafficked to Britain from Vietnam to labour in cannabis farms.
Often from poor families, many regard the West as a gateway to prosperity. Others leave weighed down by a duty to provide for parents, brothers and sisters back home.
The Home Office (interior ministry) estimates there were up to 13,000 victims of slavery in Britain in 2013. Victims are most often from Albania, Nigeria, Vietnam and Romania.
More:
http://www.trust.org/item/20150226000153-tz8fy/
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