Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner

🗓️ IASC update 💡Today marks #WorldDayAgainstTrafficking in Persons United Nations. It is a blight on our time in history that modern slavery and trafficking not only continue to exist today but are on rise. This year’s global campaign for World Day Against Trafficking in Persons urges accelerated action to end child trafficking. In the UK last year, the number of referrals to the NRM for potential victims who were children (under 18 years old) when they reported being exploited was the highest on record. This cannot continue. The IASC has made preventing child exploitation a priority in her work. She spoke on this issue and her wider strategic plan to Anti-Slavery Wales Forum. The Forum is a great example of how organisations and the Welsh Government can work together to prevent modern slavery and support survivors.   💡The IASC also met with the Anti-Trafficking Monitoring Group (ATMG), a coalition of leading UK-based anti-trafficking organisations that examines all types of human trafficking, including internal trafficking and the trafficking of British nationals. The IASC discussed why tackling modern slavery must be a priority for the new Government.   💡The IASC was pleased to get the opportunity to visit West Yorkshire Police and the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit to hear how they were working to tackle modern slavery and human trafficking in their communities. The IASC was particularly grateful to Chief Constable John Robins QPM DL and the officers and civilian staff she met with that spoke passionately about their work in identifying and supporting victims and bringing perpetrators to justice.   💡 The IASC was honoured to be invited to a curation session for  ‘Art Is Freedom’ - Hestia Charity annual flagship exhibition of artwork by survivors of modern slavery. The IASC was impressed by the immense talent shown in the submissions and the bravery shown by survivors to find their voice and share their story through art. This year, the exhibition will be hosted across various London sites from the 7th to 20th October 2024. Locations will be revealed soon. 💡The IASC called for all trafficking victims to be able to access legal aid and compensation. The After Exploitation project shows that 82% survivors were turned away from compensation - this needs to be urgently addressed. You can read the IASC’s comments in The Independent here: https://lnkd.in/eC-DEY4r

Great for the IASC to speak to the international partnership of the Interparliamentary Taskforce on Human Trafficking about why tackling the exploitation of children and young people is critical and a priority for the office. The IASC spoke about what needs to be done to prevent children from being exploited by criminal gangs, what can we done to protect and identify more children who need processionals support, and why more must be done to increase prosecutions of the perpetrators of these crimes.

Modern slavery and human trafficking is one of the most severe forms of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG). Across the UK and in our communities’ women and girls are being trafficked into sexual exploitation, with criminals profiting off a culture of impunity and acceptance around VAWG. This must change now. That is why we must act to prevent exploitation and protect the women and girl victims of modern slavery. Professionals need clearer guidance on how to identify victims, greater protections are needed in the online world, and legislation must act as a deterrent to tackle demand for sexual exploitation. Criminal gangs and serious organised crime networks behind the exploitation of women and girls should be held to account and perpetrators should be prosecuted. Tackling the exploitation of women and girl victims of modern slavery is a priority of the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner (IASC) who, drawing on the voices of survivors, is working to address vulnerabilities that put women at risk of modern slavery and human trafficking and ensure appropriate support can be accessed. You can access the IASC’s brief here: https://lnkd.in/eUXXEtKd

📆 IASC update   💡The IASC spoke at the The Business Services Association Modern Slavery Council workshop and discussed their upcoming work on helping business spot signs of modern slavery and exploitation. Businesses have a critical role to play in tackling modern slavery as there is a significant risk to it happening in their operations and supply chains. It was great to see businesses and organisations coming together to take a proactive approach to addressing this issue. 💡Former Judge Tom Crowther delivered a follow-up report to the Independent Inquiry into Telford Child Sexual Exploitation. The IASC paid tribute to the brave survivors in the Inquiry for sharing their experiences to help prevent other children from facing exploitation. The IASC reiterated the call on the importance of listening to the voices of survivors in order to inform effective response to tackling modern slavery. You can read the more here: https://lnkd.in/ew95XY3V 💡The importance of learning from those with lived experience was also the theme for The Human Trafficking Foundation forum on ‘Co-working Between Lived and Learnt Experience’. The IASC joined a range of speakers that provided their insights on the importance of working with lived experience groups if meaningful change is to be achieved. 💡The IASC was pleased to provide the foreword for the recently released report: ‘Behind Closed Doors: A Storytelling Legal and Empirical Analysis of Human Trafficking Risks in Home Office Hotels Compared to Other Accommodation for Unaccompanied Children and Youth Seeking Asylum in the UK’ by ECPAT UK and UCL All children should be in safe, loving, caring environments free from exploitation. This research rightly calls for more to be done now to make sure that we are protecting children, ensuring children’s services can wrap-care around children in need and make sure that all children are in safe accommodation. You can read the report here: https://lnkd.in/e2rCDW_v 💡In the UK, we have seen substantial increase in overall number of children being exploited is an increase in criminal exploitation with those with an unstable immigration status particularly vulnerable. The IASC was delighted to speak on this matter to the Interparliamentary Taskforce on Human Trafficking about protecting children and young people. The Taskforce are consortium of Members of Parliament and Congress, government leaders, and lived-experience experts who are committed to creating policy solutions to prevent human trafficking globally. 💡The King’s Speech on Wednesday included legislation to support victims, tackle criminal gangs and strengthen policing, and end violence against women and girls. The IASC will work to ensure the voices and needs of modern slavery victims are heard as these Bills progress through Parliament.

📆 IASC update 💡The IASC looks forward to working with the new incoming Government to tackle modern slavery and human trafficking. 💡The IASC is working to tackle violence against women and girls. In the National Referral Mechanism statistics the number of women and girls potential victims of modern slavery being referred is increasing and sexual exploitation is the most-commonly reported form of exploitation. The IASC was pleased to meet with Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley and DCC Maggie Blyth to discuss their shared priorities for tackling these crimes and protecting women and girls. 💡The IASC met with the Detention Taskforce to hear their concerns on how immigration detention is adversely affecting survivors of trafficking. The Detention Taskforce is a coalition of 13 organisations who work to ensure no victim of trafficking is treated as an immigration offender and has access to justice and support. 💡The IASC met with some of the wonderful team at Hestia Charity the largest provider of modern slavery support in London and the south east. The IASC visited a safe house to see how Hestia are providing a safe and homely accommodation for victims and access to much needed support to help to start rebuild their lives. 💡Faith leaders and communities have an important role in play in preventing exploitation by raising awareness, identifying victims and providing a trusted hub for survivors to turn to for support. The IASC is working across faith communities and was delighted to be invited by the Bishop of Norwich, Graham Usher and the Rev. Corin Child to speak to the Diocese of Norwich (Church of England) Synod about the importance of making tackling modern slavery and exploitation everyone’s business.

📆 IASC update 💡 The IASC was pleased to meet with the brilliant team at Women @ The Well who help women that are affected by or at risk of sexual exploitation in London. She was joined by the team CEASE UK and UK Feminista. On the visit the IASC heard more about their trauma informed approach and was interested to hear about their work in advocating and campaigning for better protections for women. 💡 The IASC met with ilias chatzis Chief, Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling Section at UNODC to discuss the urgent need for governments to galvanise their resolve to tackle child trafficking and exploitation. The Inter-Agency Coordination Group against Trafficking in Persons (ICAT), is calling on accelerated action by 2025 to prevent and end child trafficking globally. The IASC and UNODC also discussed the concerning rise in the number of organ trafficking cases, including in the UK. 💡 The IASC has continued her engagement with law enforcement and ensuring tackling modern slavery is prominent in their police and crime plans. The IASC was particularly interested to hear from Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester for Policing and Crime, Kate Green on her continued commitment to take modern slavery. Alongside this, the IASC spoke to Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner for Merseyside, Jeanie Bell who briefed the IASC on the region’s Modern Slavery Network, launched earlier this year, to bring partners and agencies together to focus on combatting modern slavery. 💡 The IASC was pleased to hear about the great partnership working SOHTIS was doing in their efforts to tackle modern slavery across Scotland. 💡The financial services have an increasingly pivotal role to play in the detection and reporting of suspicious activity in banking. This week the IASC provided her insights on identifying this activity to a professional accountancy body with over 165,000 members in 147 countries.

📆 Weekly Update 💡 The IASC visited the U.S. Embassy this week to hear about America’s approach to anti-trafficking and discuss what more we can all do to combat modern slavery. 💡 Later on in the week, the IASC met the team at STOP THE TRAFFIK Group to hear about their operational and preventative work in anti-trafficking and speak about what more can be achieved through collaboration to support victims of modern slavery. 💡 Finally, the IASC was grateful to speak with the team at Youth Endowment Fund on child criminal exploitation as well as attend a roundtable hosted by the Home Secretary and the Minister for Safeguarding on Violence Against Women at the UK Home Office.

📆 Weekly Update 💡 The IASC was pleased to meet with the Victims Commissioner this week to discuss how the criminal justice system can better support victims of modern slavery. 💡 Throughout the week, the IASC also met with the Chief Medical Officer, Sir Chris Whitty, the Minister for Victims and Community Safety, Siobhian Brown, as well as the Minister for Safegurding, Laura Farris. The IASC looks forward to her continued engagement across Government. 💡 The IASC also had the opportunity to meet with both Nordic Model Now! and UK Feminista across the week to discuss the issue of the sexual exploitation of women and girls in the UK. 📄 This week, Clause 94 was added to the Criminal Justice Bill which makes the act of cuckooing a criminal offence. The IASC welcomes this amendment and hopes the Government continues to engage with the concerns of the modern slavery sector.

In the IASC’s recent appearance at the Home Affairs Select Committee, she stated that cuckooing “needs to be recognised in the Criminal Justice Bill as a criminal offence.” Today, the Minister for Safeguarding announced an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill to criminalise the act of cuckooing. Cuckooing will be recognised in the Bill as the practice of taking over a person’s home for the purpose of committing specified criminal activities such as drug offences and sexual offences. The IASC welcomes Clause 94 of the Bill and hopes for continued legislative engagement from the Government to support victims of modern slavery in the UK.

📆 Weekly update 💡 This week, the IASC had the pleasure of meeting with the UK Home Office Permanent Secretary, Sir Matthew Rycroft. The IASC shared the recent work and priorities of the IASC Office having recently submitted her Strategic Plan to the Home Secretary for approval. 💡 Later on in the week, the IASC was grateful to meet again with Glasgow City Council’s Trafficking Awareness Raising Alliance (TARA) Operations Manager Bronagh Andrew to discuss the needs of sexual exploited women. 🔎 The IASC’s Office is currently hiring. Find out more here: https://lnkd.in/em_Ev5yK