Angus Thomas is a photographer, storyteller and lifetime human rights campaigner. He was first introduced to humanitarian issues after meeting a group of Tibetan refugees in the Himalayas and walking with them to Jivatsal, Choglamsar, the prayer ground of the Dalai Lama in exile.

Following his return to the UK he began to advocate on behalf of Tibetan refugees as a parliamentary liaison officer. He briefed and lobbied MP’s and members of the House of Lords later becoming an FTC liaison to then British Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook for the first Sino-EU Summit in 1998. Throughout this time Angus sponsored many orphaned Tibetans through school and into employment.

Angus started the Send Them Home campaign in 2019 after a chance meeting with a young Nigerian woman trafficked to the United Arab Emirates for sexual exploitation.

After rescuing her, he was able to rescue and repatriate a large number of Nigerian women from the same network. He built a network of collaborators and safe houses for the girls to hide in Dubai whilst he secured their exit papers and emergency passports.

Angus quickly became an expert on sex trafficking to the UAE and was able to advise and assist NGO’s in the UAE and Nigeria. He also held many meetings with hotel chains to discuss the violations of their own human trafficking policies taking place in plain sight.

Rescuing these victims of sex trafficking, supporting them upon their return and his close involvement with the Nigerian National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) gives Angus unique insight into the many aspects of sex trafficking at a deeply personal level. The campaign managed a group WhatsApp chat which enabled all of the survivors to stay in contact both in the UAE and as they navigated their way into life back home. He has adopted one of the young women he rescued from the UAE.

Elsewhere Angus has taught photography skills to young people excluded from school in London, worked as a volunteer at the Women’s Environmental Network and a women’s empowerment collective in New York as well as many stints at various food banks during the COVID pandemic. As a photographer, Angus has always had an eye for the underdog. An avid traveller he’s quick to build relationships and is always in search of the unrepresented and unseen. His photography is both emotive and empathetic and has the great ability to bring out the best in people to create heroic depictions of his subjects.