International Day for the Abolition of Slavery
Date/Time
Date(s) - 02/12/2024
All Day
Categories
2 December is International Day for the Abolition of Slavery. Forced labour is a severe violation of human rights. International Labour Organization (ILO) reports that it affects 27.6 million of men, women and children in all countries and all economic sectors. It is rooted in poverty, discrimination and lack of social protection, and it disrupts fair competition between businesses. The issue has been at the heart of the ILO mandate to promote Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, leaving no one behind.
Antislavery reports that modern slavery exists in many forms in the UK, including trafficking into criminal activities like cannabis farming, sexual exploitation, domestic slavery or forced labour on farms, in construction, shops, bars, nail bars, car washes or manufacturing.
While it is impossible to know the full extent of modern slavery in the UK, the Home Office release data to demonstrate the numbers of people referred to authorities. At the end of 2021 there were:
- 12,727 potential victims of modern slavery – the highest number of referrals since the records began in 2009
- 43% of all of these were children – meaning there were 5,468 potential child victims
- 31% of people referred were British nationals
The UK government publish, among other documents, “Modern slavery and human trafficking: identifying and reporting perpetrators“.