Slavery Still Thriving 200 Years On

That the Parliament notes with dismay the latest findings of a report by the University of Hull and Anti-Slavery International for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation that, 200 years after a Parliamentary Bill was passed on 25 March 1807 to abolish the slave trade in the former British Empire, modern day slavery is still thriving today in Britain and throughout the world; notes that 2.4 million people, half of them children, are being sold into slavery every year according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and that an estimated 12 million people may be working as slaves; notes that the researchers found that trafficking into the United Kingdom for sexual or domestic labour involves hundreds or even thousands of women and children and that some children, in particular those from African countries, are trafficked through the UK to other countries; notes that the ILO and UNICEF suggest that in 2004 some 218 million children were trapped in child labour worldwide and, of these, by 2006 some 171 million were engaged in hazardous work including in factories, mines and agriculture; notes also that in 2003 an estimated 3 to 4.5 million people were living in the European Union without legal papers, with an estimated 400,000 people a year being trafficked into member states; supports the report’s recommendations for national action to be complemented by international law and collaborative action, policy and service responses which regard those in slavery as victims first and foremost, a more robust stance against the exploiters and proper resources for enforcement agencies, and notes that, since the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Act 2004, there has yet to be a single prosecution brought for trafficking for labour exploitation.