Dear Interior Minister,

 Survivors of modern slavery and trafficking are being detained in prison-like settings for breaching immigration rules as a result of their exploitation, subject to serious retraumatization, psychological distress and a continuation of their ordeal of exploitation, with no end in sight.

The UN Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons has explicitly called for potential and confirmed victims of trafficking to be removed from prison-like settings and urges states to abide by recommendations to not detain survivors for immigration offenses.

Yet, thousands of survivors are forced into revictimizing circumstances in detention centers around the world instead of being supported to recover from their experiences.

I’m urging you to stop detaining trafficking survivors and release all survivors from detention so that they may receive the support they desperately need.