Named as a top 20 law school by The Guardian, Derby Law School continues to develop responses to modern slavery, including working with the Anti-Slavery Commissioner and the GLA (Gangmasters Licensing Authority) to help combat labour exploitation and upskill the Government’s workforce in understanding Modern Slavery.
Dr. Dave Walsh, Associate Professor in the Psychology of Criminal Investigation and Criminal Justice Law School, gave his view on the role of business in tackling modern slavery in the recently published Modern Day Slavery Report 2017.
“Modern day slavery is akin to the state-sanctioned chattel slavery common in imperial Rome and America in the 1600s. However, in contrast to historical slavery systems characterized by whips, chains, and physical imprisonment, modern day slavery is less overt, typically with no obvious visible signs of restraint.
Over the past few years, prompted in part by the Modern Slavery Act, there have been a number of high profile calls for the UK public to ‘open their eyes and ears’ and assist the authorities in combatting modern slavery.
For businesses, this means that simple auditing of internal and external supply chain processes to ensure modern slavery compliance, is harder than ever before.
What now faces the private sector is a hard slog towards full compliance, but how business confronts the full extent of the challenge remains to
be seen.The University of Derby are responding to these challenges by equipping businesses with the skills to probe labour suppliers through an approved training course, as well as regular seminars to facilitate a better information exchange.
It is activities such as these, alongside this report, that will reflect meaningful engagement by businesses to help fight modern slavery, and avoid their becoming unwitting partners in the trade.”
The introduction of the Modern Slavery Act in 2015 has made UK businesses sit up and take notice of their supply chain more than they have ever done before. Following an extensive research period, the Modern Day Slavery Report compiles the key findings as highlighted by survey respondents.
Discover how UK businesses are rising to the compliance challenge across their supply chains by downloading your free copy of the report today.
