On a serious note this month, slavery was meant to have been abolished in London in 1807. But no.

It is estimated that there are at least 20 million individuals worldwide who are forced to work as slaves against their will.

Many, are forced to work in the illicit sex industry, whilst others sweat as domestic servants, labouring long hours, without pay, without rest, without a home and sometimes even without food. So, where did these slaves come from?

How do they manage to creep into our English Justice System - a system that claims to achieve what is fair and just.

Pardon my bluntness, but being forced to work for wicked slave drivers and the government failing to recognise this as being a ground for asylum is beyond ridicule.

Unfortunately, however that is exactly what the Home Office claimed last year - that slavery is no ground for asylum in the UK.

A young woman from Sudan, Mende Nazer, had her childhood cut horrifically short, when she was abducted from her village in the Nuba Mountain region.

Raiders on horseback swept through the village setting fires, raping women and abducting potential slaves. Mende, a child aged 12, was one of them.

She was taken to Khartoum where she was sold to an Arab woman and forced to work in the home. In return for her freedom, she had her name stripped - Mende became 'Abid' or 'Black Slave'; her bed was not in the comfortable home, but on the cold garden shed floor; her meals where not exquisite splendours, but leftovers (if there where any). Affection came in the form of beatings. Mende was a slave. Her fate took a twisted turn when she was flown to London in 2000, to work as a slave for none other than a high-ranking, respected diplomat (excuse the irony).

It was in London that she planned her escape and made it. She sought shelter beneath the umbrella of UK Government but asylum was initially refused to her and deportation to the crime committing country ordered. After appeals, this decision was overturned. The Sudan Government refused to admit that slavery exists in their country, preferring to term the offence 'abduction for forced labour'.

Salvation did eventually arrive for Mende, but what about the others? The unreported cases? How can an individual in this day and age, in our righteous culture be enslaved physically and mentally and stripped of freedom?

How do these unfortunate individuals become an unrecognised part of our legal system that seems to be overflowing with human rights?

I think that the only way episodes like these can be condemned is if they are brought into the spotlight. The Government have taken a positive step by recognising how important this is. This trade already is abolished - illegal too. It needs to be re-identified now and stamped out mercilessly.