To mark Anti-Slavery Day – the UK’s national day to raise awareness of the need to eradicate all forms of slavery, human trafficking and exploitation – the Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre (PEC) has unveiled a powerful report, offering actionable, evidence-based policy recommendations to tackle the growing crisis of modern slavery in the UK.
In an interview with the BBC, the minister responsible for modern slavery, Jess Phillips, has today pledged to reform the modern slavery system and increase the number of prosecutions. The PEC’s report is designed to help the Government achieve those objectives by providing actionable, evidence-based policy recommendations for the new UK Government, encouraging it to develop new policies that address this urgent problem through effective prevention and strategic solutions.
The report is grounded in the PEC’s extensive research, expert analysis and direct engagement with those who have lived through modern slavery. The report makes key policy recommendations, including:
- Strengthening systems to better protect, identify, and support survivors.
- Launching a long-term, prevention-focused cross-government strategy.
- Enhancing prosecutions of perpetrators while improving remediation for survivors
- Incorporating prevention of modern slavery into the Government’s own missions and priorities, including in the Employment Rights Bill, new homelessness strategy and re-designing visa regimes.
Liz Williams, Head of Policy Impact at the Modern Slavery and Human Rights PEC, said
The new Government has a big opportunity to reset the UK’s response to modern slavery. By making prevention of exploitation its central pillar it has a chance to reduce harms and to improve outcomes for affected people and communities.
The Centre is engaging directly with policymakers on the wide-ranging recommendations made in the report.
Liz Williams added:
Prevention of exploitation should include addressing vulnerabilities that could lead to exploitation such as poverty, lack of good choices in finding decent work and the lack of protection when things go wrong. This is where the new Government can make a difference.
Read more about the policy report
Listen to podcast: how should the new Government address modern slavery?
About modern slavery
Modern slavery is an umbrella term that encompasses a wide diversity of forms of exploitation, including forced labour, sexual and criminal exploitation, and domestic servitude. Potential cases of modern slavery continue to be identified in their thousands every year and the effects are being felt throughout communities and across society. Addressing modern slavery presents a complex challenge, as the issue is intricately tied to broader challenges of inequality, immigration, and labour enforcement and therefore requires a holistic and coordinated response.
About the Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre
The Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre (PEC) was created in 2019 by the investment of public funding to enhance understanding of modern slavery and transform the effectiveness of laws and policies designed to address it.
The Modern Slavery and Human Rights PEC has built a reputation of funding and producing high quality research, evidence and analysis laser-focused on policy impact. Having funded over 50 research projects, the Centre has built a wealth of evidence with a strong record of influencing policy and practice.
In April this year, the Modern Slavery and Human Rights PEC moved to Oxford University after being awarded continuation funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). The Centre is part of the Humanities Division at Oxford, as part of the University’s vision for the new Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities which is currently being built and will open in 2025.
Hosting the highly respected and impactful Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre is transformational for Oxford. We are committed to ensuring continuity of the Centre’s achievements and its future development, through a network of globally connected partners. Hosting the Centre sits at the heart of our vision for the Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities: to be a creative, innovative and multi-disciplinary hub that champions the value of the humanities in response to major global challenges. The Centre is a pioneer in humanities-led policy-influencing research, and we are delighted to have the opportunity to support its transition to long term sustainability.
- Professor Daniel Grimley, Head of the Humanities Division at Oxford
