The UK’s response to modern slavery: law, policy and politics

2019 ◽  
pp. 47-74
Author(s):  
Ruth Van Dyke
Keyword(s):  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Current Policy ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Implementation Gap ◽  
Organisational Capacity ◽  
Modern Slavery ◽  
Forced Labour ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Criminal Justice Response

The UK government has not been a world leader in terms of policy development in relation to modern slavery. This chapter explores the approaches underpinning policy and the agencies tasked with implementing the policy. It first examines the three different policy responses to human trafficking and forced labour: the criminalisation of modern slavery; the human rights approach to modern slavery; and regulatory mechanisms to protect workers' welfare and rights, from 2000 to now. It is suggested that there is an implementation gap between policy and practice caused by low levels of awareness, the priority attached to tackling modern slavery, inadequate organisational capacity, or a lack of resources. The chapter then focuses on the factors that influenced the development of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, describing some strengths and weaknesses. It concludes by looking to the future and exploring current policy concerns relative to the criminal justice response.

M Stands for Media, Migration, and Modern Slavery in the UK

2020 ◽  
pp. 39-47
Author(s):  
Nelson Okorie ◽  
Suleimanu Usaini
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Racial Tolerance ◽  
Modern Slavery ◽  
The Media ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Forced Labour ◽  
The Uk

This chapter examined the issues of victimization and modern slavery actions against foreign migrants in the UK as well as the possible solutions suggested by media outlets and human right groups, using documentaries as examples. The method adopted was qualitative content analysis and two documentaries of Aljazeera were used. Also, three research questions were raised and adequately answered in this study. From the findings of the study, two predominant areas of modern slavery actions were forced labour and prostitution, which are interlinked with human trafficking. It was recommended that the media in UK should serve as agents of racial tolerance and social integration for Roma migrants.

On the Anti-Bribery “Watchlist”: Compliance and Labor/Anti-Trafficking Issues

2019 ◽  
pp. 675-696
Author(s):  
Andrew Boutros
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Child Labor ◽  
Forced Labor ◽  
Labor Laws ◽  
Labor Practices ◽  
Modern Slavery ◽  
Federal Contracts ◽  
The Uk

Today’s companies must understand and prevent the myriad problems flowing from labor issues. Increasingly demanding, serious compliance attention and resources are now being focused on the emerging area of human anti-trafficking and forced labor laws and regulations as they relate to business supply chains. These mandates include the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act, the Executive Order on Strengthening Protections Against Trafficking in Persons in Federal Contracts, and the UK Modern Slavery Act of 2015. By enlisting or conscripting companies into the fight against human trafficking, child labor, and other “forced” or “coerced” labor practices, these laws introduce a wholly new compliance reality requiring accountability and supply chain compliance.

Human trafficking: addressing the symptom, not the cause

2019 ◽  
pp. 145-166
Author(s):  
Kate Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Law Enforcement ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Public Funds ◽  
Domestic Worker ◽  
Modern Slavery ◽  
The Uk

This chapter discuss how campaigning and amendments to the Modern Slavery Act, together with a government-commissioned review, resulted in workers being able to change employers within the six-month duration of their visa. In addition, those formally confirmed as trafficked are now permitted to apply for a two-year-long visa to work as a domestic worker in a private home without recourse to public funds. However, these measures fall short of the rights contained within the original visa, which not only worked to support domestic workers to escape abuse, but also went a long way towards preventing exploitative work and provided a pathway for those who had left exploitative work to move on with their lives. The chapter argues that the UK needs to move beyond the ‘rescue and release’ law enforcement-based approach that it has taken to date.

scholarly journals The Financial Investigation of Human Trafficking in the UK: Legal and Practical Perspectives

2019 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
pp. 284-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Middleton ◽  
Georgios A Antonopoulos ◽  
Georgios Papanicolaou
Keyword(s):  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Organised Crime ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
Law And Policy ◽  
Modern Slavery ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk

A significant body of law and policy has been directed to organised crime generally, with Human Trafficking remaining high on the political agenda. This article conducts a contextualised study of Human Trafficking in the UK, examining the underpinning legal framework before drawing on the expertise of key professionals in the sector, who have been interviewed for this purpose. It is suggested that it is not so much the legal framework that is the problem, but rather there are a number of practical and policy-related considerations that the government should consider as part of their efforts to combat Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking.

Who is vulnerable? Adult social care and modern slavery

2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary Craig ◽  
Stephen Clay
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Social Care ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Modern Slavery ◽  
History Of ◽  
Forced Labour ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The 2015 Modern Slavery Act focusses attention forms of modern slavery (human trafficking and forced labour), within the UK. The contemporaneous 2014 Care Act, identifies modern slavery as a new form of risk within adult social care, listing forms of abuse and vulnerability. However, it does not consider whether those providing care may themselves be vulnerable to forms of modern slavery. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach The authors describe the history of the development of modern slavery legislation in the UK, outline key provisions of the Care Act, illustrated with real-life cases. The analysis suggests that adult social care – characterised by informality, fragmentation and vulnerability – is one where instances of modern slavery may be more common than considered to date. Findings The data collected, though relatively modest, suggests that a thorough investigation should be undertaken into the possibility of modern slavery taking place within the realm of adult social care. Research limitations/implications Data have been collected through a snowball process, rolling out a survey to relevant groups of individual and organisations. A more rigorous investigation is required to examine the extent of modern slavery within adult social care. Practical implications The training of those responsible for the regulation/management of adult social care needs to ensure that they are fully equipped to understand the nature of modern slavery and how to identify its symptoms and victims. Social implications There is also a need for heightened awareness of those close to people being cared for that they may also identify the symptoms of modern slavery. Originality/value This area has not been explored to date.

scholarly journals (Re)Conceptualising Unfree Labour: Local Labour Control Regimes and Constraints on Workers' Freedoms

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Judy Fudge
Keyword(s):  
Key Words ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
International Organisations ◽  
Multifaceted Approach ◽  
Modern Slavery ◽  
Local Labour ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Forced Labour ◽  
Labour Power ◽  
Control Regime

Disputes over the meaning of human trafficking, forced labour and modern slavery have both provoked and coincided with a reinvigorated debate in academic and policy literatures about how to conceptualise unfree labour. This article traces the contours of the debate over free and unfree labour, identifying its key stakes as the debate has developed and paying particular attention to recent interventions. It begins by identifying a problem common to both canonical liberal and Marxian approaches to the free/unfree labour distinction, which is to fetishise the labour market. It then discusses the consensus that is emerging across disciplines and in leading international organisations that labour unfreedom in contemporary capitalism is best conceptualised as a continuum rather than a binary, highlighting recent disciplinary-specific contributions. It argues that the metaphor of a continuum of labour unfreedom obscures more than it illuminates. Drawing upon the growing body of literature that advocates a multifaceted approach to labour unfreedom, this article argues that a robust concept of local labour control regime does a much better job of capturing the complex mix of consent and coercion involved in extracting value from labour power than the idea of a continuum of labour unfreedom.  KEY WORDS: unfree labour; migration; capitalism; exploitation; labour control

scholarly journals Age, Ethnicity and Equalities: Synthesising Policy and Practice Messages from Two Recent Studies of Elder Abuse in the UK

2010 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill Manthorpe ◽  
Alison Bowes
Keyword(s):  
Social Care ◽  
Elder Abuse ◽  
Current Policy ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Policy Debates ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Recent Policy

Two recent studies of elder abuse in the UK are located in current policy contexts of adult safeguarding. After describing the studies, the discussion draws out their central messages and identifies the challenges that the studies present to recent policy debates and innovations. These relate to the need to properly integrate both wider older people's issues and issues of racism and ethnicity within developments in adult safeguarding policy as well as social care services as the personalisation agenda advances.

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