our ‘why’
We are driven by the belief that every person matters; Azalea works to empower and facilitate sustainable transformation in the lives of the men, women, and neighborhoods impacted by sex trafficking and Modern-Day Slavery. Azalea is underpinned by our fundamental belief that everyone deserves to be treated with love, compassion, and dignity.
We offer both women and men support and facilitate them to make choices that will lead them to live a life free from being a survivor or perpetrator of sex trafficking, addiction, and violence. Sex trafficking is a complex world and requires specialised solutions.
The terms ‘Modern Day Slavery’ or ‘human trafficking’ are used in the press a lot but what do they actually mean? They cover all types of trafficking and exploitation including, but not limited to; sex trafficking, domestic servitude, organ harvesting, forced criminal activities, and forced labour.
The Home Office Modern Day Slavery definition is defined in three components: Action - the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt, which includes an element of movement whether national or cross border; Means - threat or use of force, coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power, or vulnerability; and Exploitation - for example, sexual exploitation, forced labour or domestic servitude, slavery, financial exploitation, removal or organs. (Source: Pg.16, Section 2.5: Home Office Modern Day Slavery Guidance for England).
These issues are often very hidden from most people's normal everyday life and as such, many are not even aware it is happening, especially so close to home. In 2020, 50% of detected victims/survivors of Modern-Day Slavery, were trafficked for sexual exploitation.
An estimated 40.3 million men, women, and children in the world were victims of Modern Day Slavery on any given day in 2016
Globally, two-thirds of the profits from forced labour were generated by forced sexual exploitation, amounting to an estimated US$99 billion per year
For every 10 victims detected internationally: five are adult women and two are girls.
Lastly, the after-effects of COVID-19 together with the impact of the war in Ukraine on goods and services and the rapidly rising interest and inflation rates is contributing to a severe ‘cost of living’ crisis in the UK. This is creating an uncertain marketplace and, we expect, may result in increased pressure and demand for our services similar to the pandemic.
There is an urgent need to respond to the issue of sex trafficking, and in this we find some of our motivation. But much deeper than us choosing to respond to the need, we deeply believe in our Core Values, and a deeply held belief that every person matters.
Find out more about our Core Values.
Proceed to Who We Are