New rules to be included in the Modern Slavery Bill going through parliament
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Large companies in Britain will be forced to declare annually the action they have taken to ensure their supply chains are slavery free under a draft law to stamp out the "evil trade", a minister said on Monday.
Karen Bradley, the minister in charge of tackling modern slavery and organised crime at the Home Office (interior ministry), said the new rules would be included in the Modern Slavery Bill going through parliament.
The announcement came after the Salvation Army charity reported that the number of cases of human trafficking for forced labour had surpassed the number involving sexual exploitation for the first time in Britain.
"The fact that there are more people in slavery today than at any other time in human history is shameful," Bradley said in a statement as the measure was announced.
"We all have a responsibility to stamp out this evil trade and this world-leading measure calls on businesses to play their part. There are already many companies taking a lead and taking action."
The government will hold a consultation to determine which businesses would be affected by the new disclosure rules and produce statutory guidelines to help firms comply, Bradley said.
The government expects parliament to pass the Modern Slavery Bill, which consolidates slavery and trafficking offences in one wide-ranging law, before the next general election in 2015.
INCREASE IN TRAFFICKING
The Salvation Army, which was awarded a government contract in 2011 to support trafficked people, said it had helped more than 1,800 people between July 2011 and June 2014.
In a report released on Monday, the charity said the number of people it helped who had been forced into labour or been sexually exploited had risen by 62 percent over the past year.
Around 80 percent of the victims of trafficking for forced labour were men, with the majority coming from Hungary, Romania and Lithuania. Most female victims came from Albania and Nigeria, the charity said.
"Each individual story represents the life of someone who has had their trust broken; their liberty denied and who, in most cases, have been subjected to appalling treatment at the hands of their traffickers," Anne Read, the Salvation Army's anti-trafficking response coordinator, said in a statement.
Bradley said the figures underlined the need for action and that businesses must "play their part".
"Greater transparency will give customers, campaigners and shareholders the information they need to hold all big business to account while also supporting companies to do the right thing," she said.
The Salvation Army report comes after Britain's National Crime Agency last month said there had been a 22 percent rise in the number of victims of trafficking between 2012 and 2013. (Reporting By Kieran Guilbert; Editing by Katie Nguyen)
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