Community Life

The contemporary slavery was the main subject of a show held at the Fairfield Halls. 'Cargo' is a musical written by internationally renowned composer Paul Field. 

Originally Cargo was conceived as a celebration of the Abolitionists who were responsible for the eventual ending of the transatlantic slave trade. Its writer then moved on to highlight the real issue of modern-day slavery, notably where women are held against their will and forced into prostitution.

The play became a major tool for Croydon Community Against Trafficking (CCAT) to highlight the borough's situation as the third largest host to sex-slaves in London. It is also one of the biggest ports for human trafficking in the UK.

A spokesperson for CCAT said: “The harsh reality is that slavery is alive and well today. In many ways, it’s possibly even bigger than it was 200 years ago”.

According to their research, the borough has around 100 advertised brothels. They estimate that at least 84% of the women who work in these boroughs have been trafficked.

“We’re not happy for there to be slaves in our town so we want to do something to free those slaves and to ensure that trafficking is closed down for good”, says, CCAT.

For Croydon Community Against Trafficking and other human rights groups, using tools like Cargo to drive the message home is just one means of highlighting that they believe there are more slaves in the 21st Century than during the transatlantic slave trade.

Are you worried about trafficking? Do you know of any brothels in your area?

email: evadney.campbell@bbc.co.uk