The challenge of eradicating modern slavery

The Santa Marta Conference – organised jointly by the Home Office, the Metropolitan Police Service and the Bishops Conference – brought together stakeholders, civil society, national law enforcement authorities from both supply and demand countries and leaders of religious congregations, to look at practical ways to join up in the work against modern slavery and to raise consciousness across institutions about the problem.

More than 30 countries were represented at the Conference, linking countries of origin like Romania, Nigeria, Thailand, Tajikistan and the Philippines with transit countries and countries of demand including the UK, US, Australia, France, Germany and Canada. The delegates stayed at the Santa Marta hostel that is also the home of Pope Francis – who dropped by the conference – and committed to considering next steps at this follow-up in London.

Tackling modern slavery is a complex, cross-border task that requires vertical and horizontal alliances between a range of institutions, at international level, not always used to working with each other: victims’ support groups, police, border agencies, legislators, civil society, business, governments and religious networks.

Below you can find a joint message  by Home Secretary Theresa May, Cardinal Vincent Nichols and Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.

Also, on October 29, HMG published the Modern Slavery strategy. The Strategy sets out co-ordinated action across Government departments, agencies and law enforcement in the UK and internationally to tackle slavery in addition to the legislative measures being introduced through the Modern Slavery Bill. It also details work to be undertaken domestically and internationally to tackle not only human trafficking but also slavery, forced labour and domestic servitude. While the majority of the strategy deals with actions in the UK, it also sets out work to be undertaken by HMG representatives overseas to tackle international modern slavery crime at source by working with law enforcement, civil society organisations and governments overseas.

For more details, you can access the Strategy here

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The challenge of eradicating modern slavery

This weekend, in London, Romania was among 33 countries attending the Santa Marta conference, a unique forum dedicated to the eradication of Modern Slavery across the globe.

Slavery. All too often, it is a word which conjures up images of a bygone age, of the millions who were once shackled, shorn of their dignity and barely treated as though they weren’t human beings at all.

Certainly, it is not something that exists in today’s society … or so we like to tell ourselves.  For, in truth, slavery is all around us if only we care to look. In our fields, on our fishing vessels, in our factories and our homes, there are people trapped in a life of unimaginable suffering.

Some are sold or betrayed by loved ones, others duped, tricked or lured by criminals with promises of a better life.  Stripped of their freedom, exploited for profit, victims often endure violence, rape, hunger, and abuse. For all, the emotional, psychological and physical damage is incalculable.

According to the Walk Free Foundation, there were 35.8 million slaves in the world in 2014.

That is a figure we cannot, as a society, ignore.  And that is why we set up the Santa Marta Group, an alliance of International Police Chiefs and Bishops from around the world working together with civil society to bring an end to Human Slavery.

The institutions we represent all have a part to play.

The UK Government has introduced a Modern Slavery Bill into Parliament, which is the first of its kind in Europe. The Bill will ensure the authorities can effectively prosecute perpetrators and properly punish offenders, increasing the maximum custodial sentence from 14 years to life, alongside important protections and support for victims.

It will also make the UK the first country in the world to introduce requirements for businesses to disclose what steps they have taken to ensure that their global supply chains are slavery free.

And it has created a new role in the UK’s first independent anti-slavery commissioner, Kevin Hyland, the former head of the Metropolitan Police’s Human Trafficking Unit.  Meanwhile the accompanying Modern Slavery Strategy sets out our commitment to work with partner governments, agencies and civil society organisations across the world.

If we are to truly put an end to Modern Slavery, police forces across the world clearly have a key role to play. In the UK, forces are committed to ensuring  that their officers have the knowledge they need to better understand this often complicated crime. To this end, all new Metropolitan Police recruits receive mandatory training on human trafficking.  By the end of 2015 this means 5000 officers will not only detect victims but be fully aware of the very sensitive and difficult problems they face.

In addition, their Trafficking and Kidnap Unit has created six Joint Investigation Teams which work closely with foreign police colleagues across the globe, cutting across national boundaries and leaving perpetrators nowhere to hide.

The Holy Father Pope Francis endorsed and supported the Santa Marta Group at its first conference, at the Vatican, last April.  In London, the Catholic Church has set up Bakhita House, a centre which will provide care and rehabilitation for women who have been victims of modern slavery.

Nearby St Mary’s University will serve as a specialist international centre of applied research on the prevention of trafficking and the pastoral care and re-integration of victims. The university will also help provide education and employment to victims where appropriate.

As well as providing mentoring and support, Bakhita House will embody four particular values: love, respect, community and spirituality.

These are values that most of us encounter in our everyday lives: through our family our friends and, most importantly of all, our freedom.  Yet they are values that all those trapped in the brothel, the field, the factory, have been denied.

At the Santa Marta Conference at the weekend, we took the opportunity to develop further partnerships that bring together government, law enforcement, the church and civil society in a bid to support victims and end put an end to this crime.

Modern slavery is a global crime, with traffickers and their victims often moving across borders, countries and continents.  International collaboration is therefore crucial in enabling us to tackle it.

We are proud to have hosted this event and delighted that representatives from Romania agreed to attend.

There has been no similar gathering of this kind in the world.

For it is only by sharing our knowledge and expertise that we will bring the modern slavers to justice while protecting their victims and giving them back their humanity as they deserve.