Home Secretary has announced an
investment of £6 million in ambitious projects to tackle
modern slavery around the world and provide vital support
for victims.
The first Modern Slavery Innovation Fund awards will be
shared by 10 organisations working to eradicate the
crime, particularly in countries from which victims are
trafficked to the UK.
It will help pay for projects to stop child slavery in
factories supplying products to this country and work to
identify and disrupt key human trafficking routes to the
UK used by organised crime gangs.
Direct interventions will help support vulnerable
victims, bring those responsible to justice, and improve
local law enforcement responses to slavery. The
investment will also fund crucial research into this
global issue and will help raise awareness in key
hotspots to prevent exploitation.
Ms Rudd announced the successful bidders while speaking
at a RUSI event
today (Wednesday 15 March) on the role of financial
institutions in tackling human trafficking.
Home Secretary said:
Modern slavery is a global human rights outrage that
casts a dark shadow around the world.
This barbaric crime affects every country and this
funding will protect those who risk being trafficked to
our shores or who suffer intolerable cruelty to make
the products we buy.
The UK is leading the international response but we
can’t do it alone – it is imperative the world unites
and strives to end slavery together.
The global trade in humans has been estimated to cost
$150 billion a year, with 45.8 million victims of slavery
around the world and 10,000 to 13,000 in the UK.
The £6 million is the first investment from the £11
million Modern Slavery Innovation Fund announced by the
Home Secretary last year. The fund forms part of £33.5
million of overseas aid funding set aside to support the
UK’s lead in the global fight against modern slavery.
The government’s world-leading Modern Slavery Act
2015 gave law enforcement new powers to tackle
these crimes, introduced tougher sentences and increased
protection for victims. But there is more to do and the
government has continued to act.
Last summer, the Prime Minister announced that she will
chair a modern slavery task force that will focus on the
law enforcement response, and the Home Secretary
instructed Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary to
carry out a detailed inspection of the police response.
In October, the Home Secretary also set out the details
of an £8.5 million fund to be used to support law
enforcement agencies in tackling modern slavery,
providing over 50 additional analysts, specialists and
investigators who will assist the police in England and
Wales to provide high quality intelligence and analysis
to assess the threat at a national and regional level.
