Category Archives: Modern slavery

Former Labor senator to be Australia’s first anti-slavery commissioner

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With an estimated 41,000 people living in modern slavery in Australia, Chris Evans’ role to address exploitative practices such as forced marriage and deceptive recruiting

The former Labor minister Chris Evans will be Australia’s first anti-slavery commissioner, with the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, announcing that the longtime senator will take up a five-year term in December.

Evans served as immigration and workplace relations minister under the Rudd and Gillard governments, and is a former chief executive of anti-slavery group Walk Free’s faith-based arm Global Freedom Network.

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Cat that comforts trafficked women in London safe house is feline of the year

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Marley, whose ‘incredible gift of empathy’ is said to help exploited women, beats thousands of cats to prize

A cat that offers comfort to trafficked women has been named cat of the year at a national ceremony.

Marley, a black and white cat who lives at a safe house for women who have been enslaved, exploited and trafficked, won the award because of his “gift of empathy”.

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‘I never expected this in the UK’: modern slavery expert receives death threat

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Migrants at Work founder Aké Achi claims police failed to act on letter sent to his home warning of harm to his family

A leading modern slavery expert who pursues employers on behalf of exploited overseas workers, recovering thousands of pounds for them in the process, has received a threat on his life.

Aké Achi, founder and chief executive of Migrants at Work, an organisation which protects workers’ rights, says the letter was posted to his home.

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Human rights group urges UK financial regulator to block Shein’s LSE flotation

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Campaigners allege Uyghur people used as forced labour at some of fast-fashion retailer’s cotton suppliers in China

A human rights group has urged Britain’s financial regulator to block the Chinese fast-fashion retailer Shein’s planned blockbuster flotation on the London Stock Exchange.

Stop Uyghur Genocide, a UK-based human rights charity that alleges minority Uyghur people are being used as forced labour at some of Shein’s cotton suppliers in China’s north-western Xinjiang region, has begun a legal campaign against the planned stock market listing.

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Indonesian fruit picker landed in debt bondage challenges Home Office

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Exclusive: Test case likely against UK’s seasonal worker scheme as charity alleges breach of right to be protected from labour exploitation

When Ismael found himself sleeping rough at York station in the late October cold he struggled to understand how an opportunity to pick berries 7,000 miles from his home had so quickly ended there.

He had left Indonesia less than four months earlier, in July 2022. He was 18 and ready for six months of hard work on a British farm to save for a science degree. “I thought the UK was the best place to work because I could save up a little money and help my parents,” he said.

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Home Office U-turns on policy to restrict help for trafficking victims

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Rights groups hail change to Braverman policy that denied support to people with criminal convictions

The Home Office has performed a U-turn on a policy to deprive some modern slavery victims of protection from traffickers.

Human rights campaigners and lawyers representing trafficking victims have welcomed the government’s change of heart, which they say reinstates vital protections to vulnerable people.

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At least 20% of NHS suppliers at ‘high risk’ of modern slavery use, review says

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Many makers of PPE and surgical instruments are based in China, where about 100,000 people may be trapped in forced labour

Over a fifth of NHS suppliers providing items including surgical instruments, gloves, gowns and face masks are at “high risk” of using modern slavery, according to a government review.

Nearly half of all NHS suppliers of gowns and uniforms are based in China, which also provides the bulk of all masks.

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Labour accuses new anti-slavery watchdog of being ‘Conservative patsy’

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Commissioner role was vacant for 18 months and is now set to be filled by former Boris Johnson adviser

Labour has accused Suella Braverman of employing an inexperienced “Conservative patsy” as the UK’s independent anti-slavery watchdog following 18 months when the statutory role remained unfilled.

Eleanor Lyons, who was a special adviser to Boris Johnson, will take up the role of anti-slavery commissioner in December, the home secretary announced on Wednesday.

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Home Office ordered to change rules that restrict help for trafficking victims

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Court rules all potential victims must be assessed for support, after policy disqualified people with criminal convictions

A high court judge has ordered the home secretary to change a key part of a trafficking policy introduced just months ago.

In an urgent hearing on Wednesday, lawyers representing trafficking victims said they were at risk of human rights violations such as slavery, servitude and forced labour if the policy continued.

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‘Golden shares’ to safeguard sustainability at Tony’s Chocolonely

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Chocolate maker appoints ‘mission guardians’ with power to veto changes to ethical strategy

The ethical confectionery company Tony’s Chocolonely has introduced a “golden share” mechanism to prevent shareholders from weakening its sustainability commitments in future.

In an unusual move, the Dutch company, which makes colourfully wrapped chunky chocolate bars stocked in UK supermarkets, has created a new governance structure with golden shares that carry the power to veto changes to its ethical strategy.

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Concerns over care sector amid UK rise in potential victims of modern slavery

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Charity says number of potential victims identified via helpline more than doubled last year

The number of potential victims of modern slavery in the UK more than doubled to record levels last year, with a particularly sharp increase in alleged exploitation in the care sector, figures show.

Calls to the UK modern slavery helpline identified 6,516 potential victims last year, an increase of 116% from 2021, according to the figures from the anti-slavery charity Unseen. It said the potential victims included 173 children.

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Australia news live: Dutton condemns ‘scumbags’ and ‘sick individuals’ after weekend Nazi display in Melbourne

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Ahead of Reserve Bank releasing board meeting minutes, opposition leader continues to accuse budget of being inflationary. Follow the day’s news live

Dutton also brushed off the idea that he needs to be careful with his language around migration.

Now in terms of the dog whistling comments and the rest of it. They are comments made by former Labor staffers who now masquerade as journalists. So I don’t take that as authoritative sort of assessment of my view which I think is quite valid.

The best thing we can do for Australian families at the moment is reduce their mortgage payments.

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UK ‘was urged to investigate’ Nigerian politician before organ trafficking plot

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Exclusive: Former US intelligence analyst says he warned authorities about activities of Ike Ekweremadu

A former US intelligence analyst warned the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) to investigate the activities of a senior Nigerian politician before he trafficked a man to London in an attempt to harvest his kidney, the Guardian can reveal.

On Friday, Ike Ekweremadu was sentenced to more than nine years in prison for being the driving force in a plot to harvest a kidney for his sick daughter in the first organ trafficking conviction under the Modern Slavery Act.

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Met police investigate more organ trafficking cases in UK

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Modern slavery team reveals further allegations of people being trafficked to London for body parts

The Metropolitan police is investigating more cases of organ trafficking in the UK after new victims came forward following the first conviction for the offence under modern slavery laws.

Detectives from Scotland Yard’s modern slavery and child exploitation team have said they are investigating more allegations of people being trafficked for their body parts to London and other areas of the UK.

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Nigerian politician jailed for nine years in UK over organ trafficking plot

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Judge says Ike Ekweremadu was ‘driving force’ in scheme to take kidney for his sick daughter from man brought to London

A senior Nigerian politician has been sentenced to nine years and eight months in prison in the UK for being the “driving force” in a plot to harvest a kidney for his sick daughter from a young man he had trafficked to London.

Ike Ekweremadu, 60, a former deputy president of the Nigerian senate, his wife, Beatrice, 56, and Dr Obinna Obeta, 51, were found guilty by an Old Bailey jury in March in the first organ trafficking conviction under the Modern Slavery Act.

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MPs back illegal migration bill by 289 votes to 230

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Controversial asylum law will now go to Lords despite criticism from leading Conservatives

The government’s flagship asylum bill passed its third reading in the Commons on Wednesday night and will now go to the Lords despite criticism from several leading Conservatives including Theresa May.

The illegal migration bill, which is supposed to change the law so that those who arrive in the UK by irregular means can be removed to a third country such as Rwanda, was passed by 289 votes to 230. The bill is expected to face greater opposition in the Lords where it could be amended or delayed.

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Braverman policies are ‘heartless’, says ex-Home Office adviser Nimco Ali

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Exclusive: Home secretary’s ‘racist’ immigration plans condemned by former Tory campaigner

Suella Braverman should consider her position for putting forward “cruel and heartless” immigration policies that discriminate against war refugees of colour, a former Home Office adviser has said.

Nimco Ali, a one-time Conservative campaigner who in December left her job as an adviser on violence against women, said the home secretary was “the wrong person not just for the Conservative party but for the country”.

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Hundreds of trafficking victims in UK missing after referral to support scheme

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Home Office data shows 566 people were categorised as missing between 2020 and 2022

Hundreds of trafficking victims in the UK have gone missing after being referred to the government’s scheme to protect them, the Guardian has learned.

The news comes after the immigration minister, Robert Jenrick, admitted in January that since 2021 about 200 child asylum seekers had gone missing from hotels where they had been in the care of the Home Office and its contractors.

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