From Freedom United

Last week, we took our supporters’ names to the UK Home Office urging the Home Secretary to review her decision to send human trafficking victim, Stephen*, back to Vietnam. We joined Stephen and our partners to hand in 116,632 signatures.

Stephen personally thanked all of us for our help and those who have supported him, making sure the Home Office heard him loud and clear.

In a recent interview Stephen said: “I want to be able to work and live in this community that has given me so much. I want to show how much it means to me that they rescued me from that life. To be sent back to Vietnam would be returning to my death. I have nowhere to go, I have no one, and the gang warned all of us that if we ever escaped them, they would find us and kill us. If I have to go back, they will find me.”[1]

Add your name to power Stephen’s voice.

After suffering the trauma of being trafficked to the UK as an orphaned child, Stephen has now begun to rebuild his life with a supportive network of people around him and he must be allowed to stay. We’re hoping that his case will lead to the overhaul of the National Referral Mechanism, the system in place in the UK to identify victims of trafficking, which does not currently provide long-term support for victims or adequate protection for children.

Will you join us in asking the UK to let him stay?

Young people like Stephen deserve a chance at a full recovery, to build a future for themselves and not have it tragically cut short by being sent back to Vietnam to face the risk of re-trafficking.

Thanks to our supporters and the thousands that have signed, Stephen knows he’s not alone and won’t have to face this decision on his own. Let’s continue to add names so that we can amplify his voice.

As a united voice, we can make a difference and continue to call for Stephen’s right to stay where he belongs.

In solidarity,

Joanna, Miriam and the Freedom United team

*Name changed for his protection.
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[1] https://www.theguardian.com/law/2018/feb/06/child-slavery-victim-to-plead-to-stay-in-uk-petition-stephen-trafficked-cannabis

SOURCE and to SIGN: https://www.freedomunited.org/advocate/stephens-recovery/?trk_msg=CAHQIF9RCTIKVCQ04D2OANTPCC&trk_contact=037FSGUJ91I19DOFIHRSCHO86K&trk_sid=K90TOA37TL5TDO43PU2RNTPDRS&utm_source=Listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=SHARE&utm_campaign=FU-EN-JAN-2018-STEPHEN%27S-STORY&utm_content=Stephen_chaser_NAT_8Feb_2018