The United Nations agree slavery is prohibited, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) states:

“No one shall be held in slavery or servitude: slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.”

For many, if not most of us, the concept of slavery was something historical and ‘other’ to our experience of being in the world. Yet, more than 40 million people do not live in freedom, and in Europe alone 800,000 people are enslaved.

Modern Slavery encompasses:

1. Human trafficking.
2. Slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour.

From 31 July 2015, in all UK referrals, the Competent Authority (trained decision makers) must consider whether the person is a victim of human trafficking. In England and Wales, if someone is found not to be a victim of trafficking, the Competent Authority must go on to consider whether they are the victim of another form of modern slavery, which includes slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour.

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In just 3 months; between June and August, 796 people were identified and reported to “Channel” , the government’s de-radicalisation scheme at an average rate of 8 people a day. According to figures released by the National Police Chiefs’ Council, more than a third of the total, 312, were aged under 18. The total figure is more than double the amount of suspected radicals who were reported to “Channel” in the first three months of 2014-15 and more than the total amount of referrals than for the whole of 2012-13 – the first year the scheme was in place.

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On the 21^st May 2015, the Safeguarding Sandwell Development programme was officially launched for over 140 integrated services team members at Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council.

The bespoke safeguarding programme comprises of 6 separate modules aimed at local authorities’ workers who work with vulnerable families at Sandwell Council and aims to strengthen and ensure an effective multi agency response to vulnerable children and young people. Designed in partnership by Salford Professional Development and the School of Nursing, Midwifery, Social Work & Social Sciences; the programme will be delivered by academics and industry experts over the course of a seven-month period.

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The number of teenagers admitted to hospitals suffering from Eating disorders across the UK has nearly doubled in the last 3 years, according to new NHS figures. “In the year 2010/11 there were just under 1,000 admissions of 13-19 year-olds but by 2013/14 it had soared to more than 1,800” (Ward, 2015.) With an already startling increase rate of 89%, this perhaps becomes more shocking when considering that experts believe these figures to be mirrored by an even larger number of unreported cases. According to the dedicated charity ‘Beat’, altogether more than 725,000 women and men across the UK are likely to be affected and of those that are admitted to hospitals; a large percentage is thought to be teenage females. A spokesman for the charity told the Mailonline, “There is undoubtedly a great deal of societal pressure nowadays on individuals, both female and male, to aspire to certain body ideals.” (Parry, 2015)

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