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New partnership with Hagar International to support Vietnamese trafficking victims

We are pleased to announce that Medaille Trust and Hagar International, two leading Modern Slavery charities, have formed a new partnership to provide better support to Vietnamese survivors in the UK and Vietnam.

This partnership aims to identify and address the unique needs of Vietnamese victims, offering them tailored support to rebuild their lives and escape the chains of exploitation and slavery. Hagar will provide a deeper understanding of the cultural context and background of victims of modern slavery from Vietnam and will deliver face to face trauma-informed support for those who return home.

Vietnamese nationals make up some of the most common nationalities to be identified as potential victims of slavery in the UK. In the most recent statistics Vietnamese nationals were the third most common referred into the National Referral Mechanism (the UK system for identifying and supporting modern slavery victims). Vietnamese victims are frequently exploited by organized criminal gangs into debt bondage, forced labour, criminal and sexual exploitation.

The new partnership will work to identify the particular needs of these victims and better support them to rebuild a life free of exploitation and slavery.

Hagar International's Interim CEO, Peter Baynard-Smith, said:

"We are delighted to be working with Medaille. Hagar has been providing expert trauma informed care for just under 30 years, including in Vietnam where we work with government, the British Embassy and key actors to reduce the vulnerability of people to being trafficked to the UK, and provide expert-led trauma informed care and financial empowerment to survivors of modern day slavery and extreme abuse;  to help rebuild their lives and break the cycle of exploitation, opening a pathway to healing and independence."

Medaille Trust CEO Garry Smith said:

"This is a really exciting new partnership. At Medaille we have extensive experience of working with Vietnamese service users who are referred into our safe houses. This partnership will allow us to better provide the tailored support survivors need to rebuild their lives and to collect and share the intelligence that we will hope will lead to more arrests and convictions of their abusers."

More information on Hagar International at their website: https://hagarinternational.org/

A Press Release of this statement is available here for reproduction.