New modern slavery booklets launched for Oxfordshire
On behalf of the Oxfordshire Anti-Slavery Network - a grouping of Oxfordshire agencies working to end modern slavery in the county - Elmore and Oxford City Council have worked to bring new modern slavery booklets for frontline practitioners to Oxfordshire.
The West Midlands Anti-Slavery Network has produced a multi-lingual booklet to explain the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) to first responders to modern slavery victims when they are identified. The NRM is a system for identifying and referring potential victims and ensuring they receive appropriate support. If somebody wants to be recognised as a victim, they can ask a first responder to submit an NRM referral.
The booklet has realistic and accurate information from professionals about the process someone could expect to take part in if they consented to an NRM referral. It includes helpful information about potential outcomes if people decided not to consent to an NRM referral, and is available in Albanian, Bulgarian, Chinese, Latvian, Lithuanian, English, Polish, Roma, Romanian, Slovak, and Vietnamese languages here. With support by the West Oxfordshire Anti-Slavery Network, the booklets have been amended and replicated for use in Oxfordshire.
Based on the idea that services can engage more Albanian and Vietnamese survivors of modern slavery, and support them better, by improving frontline professionals’ cultural knowledge, the West Oxfordshire Anti-Slavery Network has also produced booklets filled with useful knowledge about Albanian and Vietnamese populations.
Written for professionals within policing, the criminal justice system, and support services working with anyone from Albania and Vietnam, the booklets were developed with statutory and non-statutory services and co-designed with Albanian people with lived experience.
The booklets have been amended and replicated for use in Oxfordshire because research by Elmore shows the predominant nationalities of potential victims in Oxford between 2016 and 2020 to be British at 43%, Albanians at 16% and then Vietnamese at 6%. This resembles the national picture, as measured in 2019. The most common nationalities of potential victims referred to the NRM were British 27%, Albanian 16%, and Vietnamese 8%. The booklets can be found here.