End scourge of modern slavery

The rescue of three women apparently being held as slaves at a house in south London, and the recent jailing of three people for keeping a slave at a house in Sheffield, are shocking signs that the age-old evil of slavery is not yet dead. Indeed, these two examples do not include the most familiar form of modern slavery in the West, the trafficking of women and children for prostitution and abuse. But they do underline the point that measures to prohibit slavery need to be designed to criminalise all its forms. That is what new legislation, announced by the Home Secretary, Theresa May, before Christmas, is intended to do, as is the raising of the maximum penalty to life imprisonment.

The film 12 Years a Slave, which has many predictions of Oscar awards for its British director, Steve McQueen, and British leading actor, Chiwetel Ejiofor, is now being released in this country. What it depicts is a particular form of slavery, that practised in the antebellum years in the Deep South of the United States. However, slavery today is not defined by racially motivated brutality but by unlawful imprisonment in any form, for whatever purpose, from whatever motive. It does not necessarily involve the buying and selling of human beings, though it does include the forced extraction of their work. Intimidation and violence are never far away, though one feature of it is that a slave may internalise his or her condition as normal, and need a good deal of psychological rehabilitation afterwards.

Slavery reduces its victims to mere commodities. The most common modern form of slavery around the world, particularly in Asia, is bonded labour, including debt bondage. Domestic servants brought into Britain by their employers may be little more than bonded slaves, but they may not realise that the harsh conditions they are being kept under are illegal. The law needs to be particularly sensitive, therefore, in trying to ensure that immigration rules do not discourage victims from turning to the authorities for help.

The campaign against slavery needs more than a law to punish slave-owners, which already exists; it needs humane support for victims to encourage them to give evidence, safe conditions in which they can live, and knowledge and vigilance on the part of the police and prosecutors to understand what they are dealing with. The Home Office’s new bill, being introduced in the spring with all-party support, will be accompanied by measures to guide law enforcement and other agencies in the right approach.

Frank Field MP, who chaired a panel reviewing the evidence on which the bill is based, hopes that this British formula could become a template for other countries to follow. He has been in regular touch with the Vatican, where Pope Francis has already raised his concerns about modern slavery, as he did when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires. With the moral authority that has captured the world’s attention, Francis is uniquely placed to mobilise international public opinion, and has, through the Vatican diplomatic service, the means to influence governments worldwide. And there will soon be a simple reply to governments that say it is too difficult. It can be done, and the British have done it.