Anti-Slavery Day: "We're building an alliance against exploitation"

Anti-Slavery Day is a great opportunity to raise awareness of human trafficking and modern slavery, and it’s also a time to give recognition and thanks to the many partners that we at the GLAA work with up and down the country. Through our partnership working, we are building an alliance against exploitation.

There are lots of activities happening today to mark Anti-Slavery Day, some key highlights include our attendance at a modern slavery conference at the Romanian Embassy to explore and discuss new approaches to tackle human trafficking and modern slavery of Romanians in the UK.

We’re also delighted to see the launch of the ‘Alliance against Exploitation’ which sees SCAPE - the UK’s leading public procurement body for the construction sector – joining forces with the GLAA, the modern slavery charity Unseen, the University of Nottingham’s Rights Lab, and Achilles, the global leader in supply chain risk and performance management. This partnership is a great example of how industry can play a significant role in driving out exploitation. Business has a huge part to play in tackling the exploitation of workers. Construction companies know their industry better than anyone else and are best placed to drive improvements and standards, ensure workers know their rights, and prevent the exploitation of vulnerable victims in their industry.

We are also proud to be part of another great business-owned and business-led partnership – the Indirect Procurement Human Rights Forum Waste and Recycling Working Group, which aims to increase and prioritise activity to address human rights issues in the waste and recycling sector. Today, they are launching their new Modern Slavery Protocol; a voluntary agreement and public pledge of commitment to work collaboratively to tackle modern slavery and prevent the exploitation of workers in the waste and recycling industry.

GLAA Enforcement Officers are today in Leeds supporting the launch of the Leeds Pledge to Tackle Modern Slavery. The city council is launching the pledge in partnership with a range of other local organisations to encourage and empower local people to play their part in eradicating modern slavery. Our victim navigator will be on hand to talk about her role in supporting victims, as well as sharing more about the work of the GLAA.

And our investigators in the South East will today be joining the Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith and Fulham's Modern Slavery and Exploitation Operational Group. They’ll be working closely with charities and organisations to discuss modern slavery developments and themes.

Finally, our support for a group of leading anti-slavery organisations who have got together to form the #CoalitionToStopSlavery – the first initiative of its kind to date whose goal is to end modern slavery and human trafficking for good. The group is aiming for the new campaign to:

• Bring about a major change in public awareness of modern slavery, by educating people about the signs of modern slavery and how to report any concerns of modern slavery and human trafficking 
• Urge the Government to ban the import of all products tainted by forced labour and modern slavery.

Central to the campaign are two new commercials that have been made by the team behind the famous John Lewis Christmas ads.  

You can check them out on the new coalition website.

Whatever you’re doing today, please simply take a moment to familiarise yourself with the signs of labour exploitation and modern slavery so that you’re aware and empowered to identify and report abuse of vulnerable victims.

We have a wide range of really useful materials in various languages on our website which outline the basic signs of exploitation. Only by working together can we ever hope to eradicate modern slavery for good – simply by becoming informed you are taking that first important step to playing your part.

Visit our website to find out more.

Thank you

Elysia McCaffrey, CEO