On Wednesday 1 February 2017, MTYBA and Human Rights Watch are collaborating to host an evening on the subject of Confronting Modern Slavery.
Despite the prohibition of slavery under article 4 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its abolition throughout the world, slavery continues to exist. The Walk Free Foundation's 2016 Global Slavery Index estimates that 45.8 million people are subjected to some form of modern day slavery.
The Human Rights Network (HRN) and MTYBA's event "Confronting Modern Slavery", will examine the prevalence of modern slavery, what form it takes (including domestic servitude, sex trafficking and forced labour) and what more needs to be done to tackle it.
For this event, HRN and MTYBA will be joined by a panel of four speakers with significant expertise in this area:
Caroline Haughey is a barrister at Furnival Chambers and prosecutes and defends across a wide range of the most serious and high profile criminal cases. She was instructed as counsel in the first Slavery case in Britain and has subsequently been instructed as leading counsel for the Crown in some of the most serious and high profile trafficking cases. Caroline was commissioned by the Prime Minister, in her previous role as Home Secretary, to carry out an independent review of the effectiveness of the criminal justice provisions in the Modern Slavery Act, one year after it came into effect. She has also been appointed to the Prime Minster's Modern Slavery Task Force, which is being chaired by the Prime Minister.
Lucy Colman works in the House of Lords as a Political Adviser and Speechwriter. Previously, she worked as a Researcher at the Centre for Social Justice, an independent think tank established to put social justice at the heart of British politics. There, she authored a report entitled ‘It Happens Here’, which exposed the hidden disgrace of modern slavery in the UK and made a number of key recommendations to tackle modern slavery in the UK. This was instrumental in placing modern slavery firmly on the political agenda, which later led to the passing of the Modern Slavery Act.
Justine Currell is the Executive Director at Unseen, a charity seeking to tackle modern slavery by supporting survivors, identifying the key issues surrounding slavery and exploitation, and influencing the systems that keep slavery hidden. In her capacity as Executive Director, Justine oversees Unseen’s modern slavery helpline and their wider engagement with stakeholders. Previously, Justine was the modern slavery senior policy adviser in the Home Office, where she led on the development of the Modern Slavery Act, including the transparency in supply chains provision and business guidance.
Rothna Begum is the women’s rights researcher for the Middle East and North Africa region at Human Rights Watch. Rothna has worked extensively on migrant domestic workers, many of whom have very few rights or protections and are vulnerable to abuse. Prior to joining Human Rights Watch, Rothna worked for Amnesty International.
Places are limited and you must register in advance to attend. Registration is free and can be completed through our Eventbrite page: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/confronting-modern-slavery-what-more-needs-to-be-done-to-tackle-modern-slavery-in-the-uk-and-around-tickets-30541429237
The event is being held in the Parliament Chamber at Middle Temple and starts promptly at 19:00.
The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception.
We look forward to seeing many of you there.
