Sir Mo is not alone
Sir Mo Farah, Hussein Abdi Kahin, has bravely revealed he was trafficked to the UK as a child and forced to work in domestic servitude.
Tragically, his experience highlights the plight of thousands of children in the UK who are coerced into exploitation and modern slavery. In 2021 alone, there were 5,000 confirmed cases of child slavery in the UK.
In Oxford City, a ground-breaking report by Elmore Community Services, published in February 2022, has uncovered the true extent of modern slavery in Oxford.
Researching the extent and nature of modern slavery in Oxford uses a case-based methodology that suggests that there may have been between 319 and 442 ‘possible’ or ‘very likely’ cases of modern slavery in Oxford City from April 2016 to January 2020. This is considerably higher than the 123 cases recorded by Thames Valley Police.
Modern slavery includes the crimes of sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, forced labour, forced criminality and organ harvesting. Victims might be working for organised groups or family members, and in a range of settings.
The report brings together data from partners across the public and voluntary sector that deal with the issue, and the analysis reveals that modern slavery in Oxford may be 200% higher than the level cases reported to the police.
The analysis of the cases was as follows:
The predominant types of modern slavery identified were Forced Criminality (36%) and Sexual Exploitation (34%), followed by Forced Labour (21%) and then Domestic Servitude (9%). This reflects a higher proportion of Sexual Exploitation and a lower proportion of Forced Labour in Oxford than for the national context.
Women just outnumbered men in terms of potential victims identified. There was a clear and expected gender pattern with a huge over-representation of women and girls amongst those experiencing Sexual Exploitation (90%) and Domestic Servitude (84%). To a lesser extent, men were over-represented amongst those experiencing Forced Labour (76%) and Forced Criminality (69%).
29% of potential victims were children. Of particular note, 29% of all males were aged 16-18, constituting a very high-risk group.
Of those for whom nationality was known, 146 were British and 190 were foreign nationals. The predominant nationalities after British were Albanian, Vietnamese, Pakistani, Romanian, Sudanese, Indian and Chinese, in that order of prevalence.
All the potential victims of modern slavery identified had either lived in, and/or been supported in, Oxford at some point since April 2016. However, the actual exploitation could have occurred elsewhere. The vast majority occurred in Oxford (83%), a significant number occurred abroad (11%), and a few occurred in the UK but outside of Oxford (5%). In all cases the exploitation occurred since April 2016.
154 (35%) of the potential modern slavery cases identified were referred into the National Referral Mechanism. Only 24 (5%) were reported to the Home Office under the Duty to Notify using an MS1 form.
The research suggests that the following groups are at particular risk and warrant specific attention in terms of strategies for prevention, protection, and support:
Children and young people in vulnerable circumstances forced into criminality and sexual exploitation
Adults with multiple and complex needs
Foreign nationals including those trafficked from abroad, exploited as modern slaves abroad and/or in the UK, or married into servitude abroad and in the UK. Three groups are highlighted as at particular risk: asylum-seekers and vulnerable migrants, particularly unaccompanied asylum- seeking children (UASC); Albanian women who have been sex trafficked; and women of Asian and African heritage held in Domestic Servitude.
Since the publication of the report:
An Action Plan is being implemented to ensure the report’s recommendations are brought into effect, and a new Anti-Slavery Coordinator has been appointed by Oxford City Council to help implement the recommendations.
On behalf of the Oxfordshire Anti-Slavery Network - a grouping of Oxfordshire agencies working to end modern slavery in the county - Elmore Community Services co-chaired a discussion to consider the findings and recommendations of the report, attended by the UK’s Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner Dame Sara Thornton DBE QPM. The Rt Hon Theresa May MP, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom between 2016 and 2019, who oversaw the introduction of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 to tackle slavery and trafficking, spoke to delegates by video message.
Elmore has introduced new modern slavery booklets for frontline practitioners to Oxfordshire about the process someone could expect to take part in if they consented to a referral for support. It is available in Albanian, Bulgarian, Chinese, Latvian, Lithuanian, English, Polish, Roma, Romanian, Slovak, and Vietnamese languages here because research by Elmore shows the predominant nationalities of potential victims in Oxford to be British at 43%, Albanians at 16% and Vietnamese at 6%.
Dame Sara Thornton DBE QPM, the UK’s current Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner has joined a new Elmore podcast for a conversation about modern slavery. In the podcast Dame Sara helps to raise people’s understanding about modern slavery, how to spot the signs of the crime when it’s in action, how to report modern slavery, and the kind of support available to survivors. The Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner also shared more information about her work nationally to prevent modern slavery and ensure survivors can receive the right support at the right time.
Tom Hayes, Chief Executive of Elmore Community Services, and the co-chair of the Oxfordshire Anti-Slavery Network, said: “It’s heart wrenching that Sir Mo, Hussein Abdi Kahin, was taken from his family at such a young age and trafficked to the UK to be exploited. Slavery isn’t something that happens in some faraway country, it’s happening right here. Slavery doesn't belong to some distant past, it’s happening right now. As ground-breaking new research by Elmore Community Services shows, slavery may be happening in far greater numbers than we thought. Indeed, previous figures may just have been the tip of the iceberg. Modern slavery has many faces, and they can all be seen in Elmore’s report.”
The Oxford Mail covered this news story here.