“Journey” is made up of seven shipping containers that describe each stage of the trafficking victim’s experience. Undoubtedly the most powerful and shocking container is “Bedroom”. It depicts the kind of dingy room in which trafficked women are forced to service up to 40 or 50 men a day. The filthy bed squeaks as if sex were taking place, the groans of a man are audible, and a pungent stench of vomit, urine, semen and sweat overpowers visitors.

Emma Thompson hopes the exhibition will help people understand the nature of human trafficking. “It’s torture,” she explains, “and not enough people know about it. Not enough governments have enough information about the practice to be able to prosecute the perpetrators. It’s a huge and hidden area, and all of us need to take action now”.

The exhibition in The Hague coincides with the 10th anniversary of the establishment of a Dutch National Rapporteur on the Trafficking of Human Beings and a debate in the Dutch parliament about the crime. It comes on the eve of the European Day against Human Trafficking.