The U.K.’s Home Office is working hard to raise awareness of slavery in the fishing sector with a new campaign, aimed to give people the confidence to help tackle the ever-growing issue, writes Rachael Doyle.
Slavery is an issue usually associated with history or certain countries, but in its new campaign, the Home Office highlights the fact that “slavery is closer than you think”; it’s a global problem and the UK is no exception.
According to the U.K. National Referral Mechanism Statistics, in 2013 alone, 1,746 cases of slavery were reported — a 47 percent increase on the number of cases reported in 2012. The Home Office says modern slavery shows no signs of diminishing and is actually a growing international crime, affecting men, women and children, with an estimated 29.8 million slaves affected around the world, according to the Global Slavery Index.
As a global problem that transcends age, gender and ethnicities, slavery can include victims that have been brought from overseas and vulnerable people in the U.K., being forced to illegally work against their will.
The latest figures from The Salvation Army reveal the number of modern slavery victims they help in the U.K. alone has risen by 62 percent.
