The reality of modern slavery

Stephen Chapman, the Welsh Government’s Anti-Slavery Co-ordinator, tells us about the effect of modern slavery on vulnerable and often displaced people. 
 

Slavery is a crime that affects an estimated 45 million people across the globe. Due to its scale and complexity, tackling slavery requires co-ordinated action cutting across the boundaries of Governments in the UK and wider. Organisations from all sectors must unite to help save victims, bring perpetrators to justice and raise awareness to prevent this heinous crime.

Slavery is categorised as:

• Domestic servitude
• Sexual exploitation
• Child exploitation
• Labour exploitation
• Criminal exploitation
• Human tissue/organ harvesting

Organised crime groups and criminals involved in this crime use force, fraud or coercion to exploit victims into slavery. However, research indicates that many of those responsible will not be seen as criminals or organised crime groups but friends, associates and family. As such, slavery is a widely under-reported crime, which is why the involvement and partnership of the independent charity Crimestoppers is vital.

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The response in Wales has been bolstered by the Welsh Government’s appointment of an Anti-Slavery Co-ordinator, which came four years before the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and was the first role of its kind in the UK. The role was created to help make Wales a hostile place for slavery to exist, and to co-ordinate the best possible support for survivors.

The Co-ordinator is supported by Wales Anti-Slavery Leadership Group which provides strategic leadership for tackling slavery in Wales. The group, established in 2013, is in a unique position to add value by enabling collaboration across partners to plan and support delivery in Wales, thereby maximising the opportunities for multi-agency solutions to tackle slavery.

Shocking cases
One of the early cases that tested the partnership's resolve was that of a man forced to work 15-hour days without pay and live in appalling conditions on a farm in south Wales. The perpetrator was subsequently jailed for four-and-a-half years. A similar case involving a family who forced vulnerable men into back-breaking work for their business for as little as £5 a day – including one for 26 years – led to more people and organisations taking slavery in Wales seriously.

What the Leadership Group does
The Leadership Group helps provide an evidence base on the scale of the problems, sets the strategic direction of the agenda in Wales, and supports and encourages operational and regional groups to share information and good practice with partners. Furthermore, Wales’ strategy to tackle slavery is delivered in line with the Home Office Modern Slavery Strategy, namely to:

A key achievement supporting prevention and protection, unique to Wales, has been the introduction of a Code of Practice on Ethical Employment in Supply Chains. The guidance seeks to ensure that all public sector organisations are taking action to eradicate unlawful and unethical employment practices and to ensure all workers at every stage of the supply chain are treated fairly.
 

With the current challenges faced worldwide as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, ensuring fair work practices across all sectors and preventing exploitation has never been more important.

You can read more about the Code of Practice on Ethical Employment in Supply Chains on the Welsh Government website.
 

More about Stephen Chapman

Having previous worked in the Security and Resilience Directorate of the Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in London, as well as working in roles including Deputy Director for the Central Operations and Performance Directorate for the UK Border Agency, Assistant Director with the Police Standards Unit and Violent Crime Unit at the Home Office, Head of Equalities & Community Safety with Cardiff Council and Area Commander in the British Police Service, Stephen is also an experienced consultant with UK and overseas experience.

In the role of Anti-Slavery Co-ordinator, Stephen leads and co-ordinates the multi-agency response to tackle slavery which aims to make Wales hostile to slavery and to provide the best possible support for survivors. He is a member of the Wales Anti-Slavery Leadership Group, Home Office Modern Slavery Strategic Implementation Group, All Wales Portal Group, Modern Slavery Helpline Advisory Board, a Board Member of Crimestoppers Cymru and a member of a number of other key UK and National Groups.


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