World Anti-Slavery Day - Support the Modern Slavery (Victim Support) Bill

It's difficult to imagine in this modern 21st century world that slavery continues and it's not just men,women & children in chains being owned and used for all purposes imaginable with no respite, no rights, no hope yet...

Slavery continues unabated not just in the traditional fashion but in so many other forms in the form of domestic servitude, forced prostitution in prison camps across the world and more. 

In recent history we have seen the use of slavery by the ISIS extremists as they raped and murdered their way across a swathe of the Middle East particularly targeting the vulnerable Yezidi people. Slave markets opened in Libya as criminals captured black migrants and sold them. In fact there are many countries in North Africa where traditional slavery (even where formally banned continues to exist in counties like Mauritania, Mali and Chad. 

The abuse of Asian domestic servants by employers in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries continues despite the protests of the Philippine and Indonesian governments. But such slavery has been found in the West even in the UK where African children have been sent ostensibly for a better life in this country but ended up in servitude a lot of which has been exposed but continues.

The use of Vietnamese and other Asian immigrants in the drug trade such as cannabis factories and even in nail bars remains an on-going problem that the authorities need to deal with.

Then there are government penal institutions such as the worlds largest in North Korea where people are sent for the slightest infringement against the regime and as has been shown in China the Uyghur people are being used as for slave labour as part of their so-called "rehabilitation".

However we must not be complacent. Slavery exists in the UK. It's hidden. From the abused men found in a few "travellers" camps to women trafficked as prostitutes against their will.

 

More needs to be done to protect victims of modern slavery in England and Wales. That’s why the Modern Slavery (Victim Support) Bill is so important. If the Bill is passed, victims of modern slavery will be guaranteed the help they need, including somewhere safe to stay and the medical and psychological care they need to begin their recovery.

Please sign our petition and ask the Home Secretary, Priti Patel MP, to put the Government’s weight behind this crucial Bill. Britain led the fight to end slavery in the past. The fight isn’t over yet – please sign our petition.

 

Please sign the Anti Slavery International's petition: www.antislavery.org/take-action