Stopping slavery and trafficking in its tracks

Anti-Slavery Day on 18 October 2018 provided an opportunity to raise awareness of trafficking and modern slavery and to encourage government, local authorities, companies, charities and individuals to do what they can to address the problem.

What’s the problem?

You might think that slavery and trafficking are crimes of the past but sadly they are very real today. The 2018 Global Slavery Index estimates there are 40.3 million victims worldwide living in slavery and approximately 136,000 being held in modern slavery in the UK. Victims are trapped in situations such as forced labour, domestic servitude or sexual exploitation and it is estimated to cost the UK economy £4.3 billion each year.

At Shoosmiths we produced tweets and also ran a front page intranet feature to help raise awareness amongst staff explaining how they could help. This included:

• Finding out more about the issue and what we are doing as a business. There were films to view and we promoted our e-learning slavery module.
• New company phones include the Unseen App for the Modern Slavery Helpline with details provided on how to download the app to your phone.
• Encouraging any client/supplier/charity collaborative opportunities.
• Providing pro bono advice to charities tackling these issues or volunteer for them.
• To find out more about our approach read our annual statement published on the landing pages of our Shoosmiths website.

If you would like to download the Unseen App for the Modern Slavery Helpline to your phone click here for how to details.