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Article

8 May 2014

Author:
Mei-Ling McNamara, Huffington Post (UK)

Inside the Business of Human Trafficking [UK]

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The business of human trafficking is just that: big business. It is opportunistic, demand-driven, high-profit, and low-risk, with networks far-reaching and deeply underground. It can all too easily infiltrate legitimate supply chains…There is mounting evidence that vulnerable migrant workers face a significant threat of labour exploitation in the UK. Men, women, teenagers, and children are all vulnerable, and found in sectors such as construction, care, agriculture, domestic labour, and the hospitality industry. Some industries are covered by regulatory practices put in place by the Gangmasters Licensing Authority, but there are calls to increase the scope of regulation...Yet despite a growing awareness of the problem, there is a palpable lack of coordinated responses by both the government and civil society groups...[G]reater awareness and a broader dialogue on the business of human trafficking may begin to change that. There has been a push to absorb the Transparency in Supply Chains Bill into Theresa May's new Modern Slavery Bill...Using the context of the UK Action Plan on Business and Human Rights, participants [of an Oxford Univ. workshop] will debate the limitations of businesses to self-regulate against exploitation, the benefits of incentivizing for compliance, and ways to practice due diligence in the business workplace.