Modern Slavery in the UK – taken from The UKPAC (United Kingdom Programme Action Committee) Website. Use this link to explore the UKPAC wekbsite
The UK is both a country of destination, with thousands of victims arriving from other countries only to be exploited by criminals, and a source country with increasing numbers of British victims identified. Slavery takes many different forms and affects adults and children, males and females. Those who are enslaved are exploited for the financial gain of their captors. The vulnerable are made to work in cruel conditions for long hours without pay. Examples include women and girls forced into prostitution for profit, young boys made to commit criminal acts against their will and men kept in slave-like conditions in factories.
Last year there was a total of 6,993 recorded victims of modern slavery in the UK. This is a 36% increase on the year before. Victims came from 130 different countries, with the top 3 being the UK, Albania and Vietnam.
The most common exploitation type recorded for potential victims exploited as adults and children was labour exploitation, a category which also includes criminal exploitation.
Slave masters and human traffickers in the UK will coerce and control their victims, keeping them in slavery for weeks, months or years at a time. Individuals are often deceived into working in slave-like conditions, and then threatened in order to keep them there. Victims are moved from abuser to abuser . They are usually too afraid of their captors to risk escape, making slavery a hidden, complex crime.
The UK has an established system of support, namely, the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) for those victims who do escape or are rescued This was introduced in 2009. The NRM provides accommodation and other vital services for victims for a minimum of 45 days. The NRM exists outside statute, and many organisations also support victims of modern slavery before, during and after exiting the NRM. Although modern slavery can involve the movement of people across an international border, it is also possible to be a victim within one’s own country; for example, last year the UK was in the top 3 countries of origin for all potential victims in the UK.
Useful links:
Resources: https://www.antislaverycommissioner.co.uk/resources/
Anti-Slavery Partnership Toolkit: https://iasctoolkit.nottingham.ac.uk
UKPAC Modern Day Slavery News and the latest helpline data Modern Slavery Helpline – Quarter 4 Report 2018 This document and the hand book developed as a result are available here.
Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Survey Report SIGBI Modern Slavery Booklet 2018 July 2018 Final_ (2)
FINAL Independent MSA Review Interim Report 2 – TISC Independent Review of the Modern Slavery Act Second interim report: Transparency in supply chains
UKPAC’s submission has been published at http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/home-affairs-committee/modern-slavery/written/87990.html.
Two useful films