Government invests first £6m from Modern Slavery Innovation Fund
Melanie May | 30 March 2017 | News
The Government has announced a £6 million investment in projects to combat modern slavery and provide support for its victims.
The £6 million is the first investment from the £11 million Modern Slavery Innovation Fund announced by the Home Secretary Amber Rudd last October, and which forms part of £33.5 million of overseas aid funding set aside to support the global fight against modern slavery.
The first Modern Slavery Innovation Fund awards will be shared by 10 projects working to stop the crime, particularly in countries from which victims are trafficked to the UK.
Projects funded include those to stop child slavery in factories supplying products to this country, and working to identify and disrupt key human trafficking routes to the UK used by organised crime gangs.
The funds will also help to support vulnerable victims, bring those responsible to justice, and improve local law enforcement responses to slavery. The investment will also fund research into the issue and help raise awareness in key hotspots.
Organisations receiving financial support include UN University, which will receive over £1m to help them gather and share global data on modern slavery, and GoodWeave to help it expand its work, which focuses on stopping child labour in the carpet industry.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd said:
“Modern slavery is a global human rights outrage that casts a dark shadow around the world. This barbaric crime affects every country and this funding will protect those who risk being trafficked to our shores or who suffer intolerable cruelty to make the products we buy.”
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.