United Kingdom - The UK’s first Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner (IASC), Kevin Hyland, has endorsed IOM UK’s CPD-accredited Introduction to Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery awareness raising sessions, aimed at equipping frontline practitioners with the knowledge and tools needed to identify and protect victims of trafficking and slavery.

Reporting directly to the Home Secretary, the role of the IASC was established in the Modern Slavery Act 2015, the newest legislative provision to strengthen the protective and preventative measures to combat the crime of trafficking and slavery. 

The functions of the Commissioner are to encourage good practice in the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of slavery and trafficking offences and to encourage good practice in the identification of the victims of those offences.

As part of the IASC’s efforts to expand focused, coordinated and effective actions to combat slavery, training was identified as a key requirement to advance understanding of trafficking and slavery and in turn improve identification of, and assistance to, victims.

Since 2011, IOM has provided training and awareness sessions on human trafficking and modern slavery to over 2,000 frontline professions from bodies including local authorities, police, health services, immigration services, the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of England and Wales, the Church of England and diverse charities.

The sessions seek to build their capacity in understanding the complexity of the crime, identify the specific, and often hidden, vulnerabilities of its victims and take appropriate action within the existing safeguarding frameworks.

Through his endorsement of the training sessions, the Commissioner notes that the content clearly addresses the key aspects of the issue of human trafficking and modern slavery: from the international legal framework and the global picture of trafficking, to the UK’s national response, and support services available to victims detected within the country.

He further noted that by using case studies, discussion and group work, the course actively engages learners and is an important step towards building awareness and understanding among people who may come across victims of trafficking and slavery in their work – particularly those who support vulnerable adults and children.

With the IASC endorsement of the awareness raising sessions, IOM UK is looking to further engage with, and deliver training to, key public authority and third sector organisations to improve understanding of the crimes of trafficking and slavery, and to protect the victims.

For further information, please contact Annie Morris at IOM UK, Email: amorris@iom.int, Tel. +44 (0)207 811 6053.