Trafficking in human beings is the modern version of the slave trade. People are forced by poor and insecure circumstances, by economic and political hardships, to leave their homeland in search of a better life. Alas, this quest can be a journey into hell.

Human beings are treated as commodities to be bought and sold, subjected to every form of exploitation: usually in the sex industry but also economically, for instance in the agricultural sector or in declared or undeclared sweatshops, forced to work for a pittance or no wages at all. Every day we learn of cases of domestic slavery where persons working in a private family setting are ill-treated, humiliated and subjected to exhausting working hours. Anyone, man, woman or child, can be entrapped and victimised by this traffic.

The stories of Talina, Fabia, Yvo, Anna and Sofia illustrate all these forms of exploitation. The Council of Europe, whose prime objective is to safeguard and protect human rights, intends these stories to alert the citizens of its 47 member states. The fight against trafficking in human beings has become one of its priorities. Numerous activities have already been conducted at the political and legal level by the Council of Europe to combat this traffic, the most recent being the adoption of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings.

The comic strip is a further contribution to Council of Europe action to combat trafficking and protect its victims.