Beyond Trafficking and Slavery

Beyond Trafficking and Slavery is an online platform that provides analysis and commentary on human trafficking and modern slavery. The platform features articles and reports from experts in the field, and aims to promote critical thinking and constructive dialogue about trafficking and slavery. Beyond Trafficking and Slavery also seeks to challenge prevailing assumptions and narratives about trafficking, and to promote a more nuanced understanding of the issue.

 

Detention centres, not rubber dinghies, are the modern-day slave ships
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Detention centres, not rubber dinghies, are the modern-day slave ships

ByEyes on Trafficking News

‘View yon vessel, with sails expanded, ploughing the deep – Contemplate for a moment the scene which it exhibits – Within that receptacle of human misery, are contained hundreds of beings, possessing passions and feelings congenial to thine own’ – William Belsham, 1790 In May 1788, Sir William Dolben, one of two MPs for Oxford…

The UK government is undermining decades of anti-slavery efforts
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The UK government is undermining decades of anti-slavery efforts

ByEyes on Trafficking News

More broadly, framing slavery as something which people lie about to gain an advantage will affect the way in which victims are treated, and categorising slavery as an immigration matter risks changing the understanding of who can be trafficked. It makes it less likely that UK nationals will be identified, or that they will engage…

Government prepared to block modern slavery survivors to prevent ‘bogus’ claims
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Government prepared to block modern slavery survivors to prevent ‘bogus’ claims

ByEyes on Trafficking News

Difficulty in disclosing and proving one’s exploitation is a major stumbling block for victims of trafficking. Many people are not capable of communicating their situation until well after they’ve entered the UK. Critics of the NRM see this as proof they are lying. This scepticism is reflected in the language of Part 5 of the…

11 times Jacob Rees-Mogg revealed what he really thinks about your rights
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11 times Jacob Rees-Mogg revealed what he really thinks about your rights

ByEyes on Trafficking News

Editor’s note: we have no political affiliation; this is presented for educational purposes. Jacob Rees-Mogg is now the man in charge of our hard-won workers’ rights, as the secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy. The UK’s last two prime ministers, Theresa May and Boris Johnson, both promised that Brexit would not weaken…

A sex worker reviews Good Luck to You, Leo Grande
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A sex worker reviews Good Luck to You, Leo Grande

ByEyes on Trafficking News

The film is clearly trying to convey the inherent value and necessity of sex work as a form of care work, but it can only do so with a switcheroo female client/male worker dynamic – one of the encounters least representative of the industry. If Leo and Nancy’s roles were reversed, it would be significantly…

As the Ukraine war drags on, a grain export deal could be a sign of hope
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As the Ukraine war drags on, a grain export deal could be a sign of hope

ByEyes on Trafficking News

Six months ago, Poland’s air force included large numbers of obsolete Soviet-era planes. But it is now furiously re-arming and has just signed a major arms deal with South Korea. The US$14.5bn deal with Poland includes 1,000 K2 main battle tanks, nearly 700 self-propelled howitzers and 48 FA-50 combat aircraft. It’s just one example of…

Religious backlash threatens Somaliland’s progressive rape law
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Religious backlash threatens Somaliland’s progressive rape law

ByEyes on Trafficking News

A group of religious leaders in Somaliland is behind an attempt to replace a progressive sexual offences law passed in 2018 with a revised version that protects rapists rather than survivors and allows child marriage. In August 2018, Somaliland president Muse Bihi Abdi signed Somaliland’s Rape and Sexual Offences Act into law. The first of…

UK Home Office launches new assault on the rights of modern slavery survivors
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UK Home Office launches new assault on the rights of modern slavery survivors

ByEyes on Trafficking News

These changes, which subject survivors to blame and shame, will push traumatised and stigmatised survivors further into hiding. We know this, because so many survivors have told us so. Whilst campaigning against Part 5 of the bill, one survivor told us that it took her months to disclose the details of her sexual and criminal…