Latest news with #ModernSlavery
Forbes
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Forbes
Prosecutions Under ‘World Leading' U.K. Modern Slavery Act Remain Low
Getty Creative A new report from the U.K.'s leading research institute on modern slavery has shown that prosecutions of offenders under the country's Modern Slavery Act (MSA) remain very low relative to the amount of cases that have been identified. The research, published by the Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre (PEC) at the University of Oxford, highlights how myriad problems with the implementation of protections under the MSA mean many survivors are, for instance, unable or unwilling to provide testimony against their former captors. At the same time, legal teams lack the proper resources and training to handle cases with the required nuance and sensitivity. These deficiencies compound the problem, with the low rate of conviction fostering further distrust in the system. 'Part of the intention behind the Modern Slavery Act was to ensure that perpetrators receive suitably severe punishments, yet ten years after the introduction of the Act, conviction rates remain low," said Alicia Heys, Senior Lecturer in Modern Slavery at the University of Hull, and author of the report. The Modern Slavery Act was enacted in 2015, and heralded at the time as 'world-leading,' with a raft of measures to protect survivors and punish offenders. In the years since, it has come under fire repeatedly for failing to protect survivors from immigration detention, for instance, as well as not offering them adequate support during the long process of re-building their lives. In more recent years, the issue of modern slavery has often been conflated with irregular migration, with ministers of the formerly long-reigning Conservative Party targeting the MSA as allegedly presenting a 'loophole' for serious criminals wishing to circumvent the immigration system (something that was repeatedly debunked by the government's own statistics). At the same time, the issue of modern slavery and extreme labor exploitation in the U.K. appears to have become worse. Reports of people working under conditions of forced labor and extreme exploitation have come out across the country, showing up in almost all areas of the economy, particularly in fast food, supermarkets, and on Britain's farms. The number of people identified as survivors of trafficking and modern slavery in the U.K. continues to increase, with around 17,000 people identified between mid-2023 to mid-2024. While anti-slavery advocates have called for prosecutions to be stepped up, and for more energy put into increasing oversight of global supply chains, there has been a marked decrease in momentum on modern slavery in the U.K. in recent years, reflecting a global slump. Earlier in the year, former U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May, the figurehead of the MSA and now head of the Global Commission on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking, urged renewed action. 'It's not just governments. It's about businesses and civil society as well," said May in April 2025. The evidence from Oxford's Modern Slavery PEC and other research institutes makes a strong case that the key to increasing prosecutions in the U.K. is to offer more support and resources to survivors in their long legal processes. As it stands, the system often leaves people fending for themselves, with barely enough resources to survive, and forced to deal with a system that is often uncaring and insensitive to the trauma and difficulties they face as a consequence of their enslavement. 'If we don't make it easier and more human for survivors, they won't want to engage in these processes,' said Liz Williams, Head of Policy at the Modern Slavery PEC. 'If after years of complex legal proceedings, repeated questioning and reliving traumas traffickers walk away with a light sentence, many survivors will think twice before signing up to go through it.'
The Guardian
10-04-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Corporate reports and policies
Sustainability reports Sustainability Report 2023/24 Sustainability Report 2022/23 Positive Impact and Sustainability Report 2021/22 Positive Impact and Sustainability Report 19/20 Equality reports Guardian News & Media gender and ethnicity pay gap report 2023/24 Guardian News & Media gender and ethnicity pay gap report 2022/23 Guardian News & Media gender and ethnicity pay gap report 2021/22 Guardian News & Media gender and ethnicity pay gap report 2020/21 Ethnicity pay gap report Guardian News & Media ethnicity pay gap report 2019 Gender pay gap report Guardian News & Media gender pay gap report 2019 Guardian News & Media gender pay gap report 2018 Guardian News & Media gender pay gap report 2017 Working report Working report 2018 Tax strategy Guardian Media Group tax strategy 2025 Guardian Media Group tax strategy 2024 Guardian Media Group tax strategy 2023 Guardian Media Group tax strategy 2022 Guardian Media Group tax strategy 2021 Guardian Media Group tax strategy 2020 Guardian Media Group tax strategy 2019 Modern slavery report Modern Slavery report 2024 Modern Slavery report 2023 Modern Slavery report 2022 Modern Slavery report 2021 Modern slavery report 2020 Modern slavery report 2019 Sourcing policy and values Sourcing policy Sourcing values GMG Governance Code GMG Governance Code Anti-bribery and corruption policy Anti-bribery and corruption policy Committees The full terms of reference for our Nominations Committee can be seen here The full terms of reference for our Audit Committee can be seen here The full terms of reference for our Remuneration Committee can be seen here
