Each year on July 30, the world marks the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. It’s a time to honour survivors, raise awareness, and reflect on the many forms of exploitation that continue to operate in silence. But we must also look deeper.

Trafficking doesn’t happen in isolation. It’s shaped by racism, inequality, and exclusion. Any meaningful response must confront those root causes. 

Many people who are trafficked are already vulnerable, and that vulnerability is often the result of systemic injustice. People who are racially marginalised, seeking asylum, or living in unstable housing face higher risks. When people are denied work rights, safe housing, or security from detention, they become easy targets for exploitation often with no safe way out. 

In our work supporting people seeking safety, we’ve seen how the very systems meant to protect people can expose them to further harm. Shared accommodation, lack of privacy, and frequent relocations can mirror the conditions survivors are trying to escape.  

Mariah, a survivor of human trafficking shared how it affected every part of her being. “Human trafficking is very bad. It destroys a person physically and mentally. You have no time to yourself, you live like a slave, and it’s not healthy for anybody,” she said. “It led me to develop PTSD and anxiety, and being in the asylum process for so long made it worse.” 

She spoke about how her race, culture, and background made things even more difficult: “My traffickers used cultural norms and expectations against me. Things like obedience to authority or shame around speaking out. I was afraid of dishonouring my family or being judged by my community.”

Even when trying to get help, the barriers continued. “There were language differences, cultural misunderstandings, and sometimes even discrimination. It felt like people didn’t fully understand what I was going through or didn’t take me seriously because of where I came from. That made it really hard to trust anyone. If there had been more culturally aware services, I might have gotten help sooner,” she said. 

If we want to end trafficking, we must stop seeing it as only a crime issue and start treating it as a racial and social justice issue. That means listening to survivors from all backgrounds and changing policies that create risk instead of reducing it. 

As Mariah powerfully put it: “Authorities need to do more to protect people and build systems that are trauma-informed to support people no matter where they come from.” She also believes in the power of truth-telling: “If survivors are empowered to share their stories, it disempowers traffickers, because they know people are aware what signs to look for.” 

On this World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, let’s recommit to creating systems that protect, not punish and make justice, dignity, and safety a reality for all.