CHASTE, was founded in 2004, and has since that time been working with women who are escaping the clutches of the traffickers and opening up some new possibilities for life, as they recover from the deep and lasting trauma which this form of sex slavery entails.
CHASTE was developed from the experience of working with those who were on the point of deportation from the United Kingdom in our Immigration and Removal Centers who had been trafficked. The young women concerned were from Angola, China, Romania and South Africa. Some were found refuge through the intervention of Detention Centre chaplains, Human Rights Lawyers, voluntary visitors, local ministers, Asylum adjudicators, Asylum and Refugee workers and the co-operation of Operation Reflex team members. Others were returned to their countries of source.
The CHASTE round table on Safe Housing first met in the offices of the Churches Together in Britain and Ireland in the Spring of 2005. The vision was set to match the Government funded provision of UK safe bed space then solely represented by the Poppy Project a pioneering London based Housing provider for vulnerable women – a total of 27 safe beds for recovery and recuperation. The challenge was taken up by the Salvation Army and the Conference of Religious to provide capital resources and personnel to provide some safe houses independently financed to enhance the slim provision of the time.
The CHASTE network of Safe Houses had its first Safe House open early in the Spring of 2006 by the Salvation Army. This was followed in October 2006 on the feast of St Michael and all Angels by the commissioning of a Safe House by the Medaille Trust who have taken forward the commitment of the Conference of Religious in this area.
Since CHASTE’s inception there have been over 87 young women referred through our pastoral network. CHASTE has developed the understanding and participation of all the major denominations in the UK through its work in training, conferences, educational campaigns, networking and lobbying. Further details of conferences, trainings and campaigns can be found in our archive pages.
From humble beginnings in a small study in Cambridgeshire to a movement which is working its way through the churches of Britain and beyond, CHASTE has been entirely funded from voluntary contributions and Trust funds. Its small but dedicated team work tirelessly to develop capacity for response to the outrage of trafficking for Sexual Exploitation and safety for those who escape and survive their brutalisation. Supporting its work are hundreds of praying men and women determined to overhaul the contemporary evil of trafficking and see its victims find justice and a new secure future. Alongside its work as an energetic Non Governmental Organisation (NGO) working with the Churches, stand those in the Civil Service, in Government, the Police and Immigration Authorities, Business women and men and other NGO’s committed to see change. As the anthropologist Margaret Mead reminds us: