News story: Vital action taken in fight against modern slavery

The UK and Vietnam have announced a new partnership to tackle modern slavery.

The 2 countries today (Monday 21 November) signed a memorandum of understanding on human trafficking that will allow for greater collaboration around intelligence sharing, supporting victims and prevention work.

Many victims of modern slavery in the UK originally come from Vietnam.

In 2017 alone, UK authorities identified 738 potential slavery victims from the South East Asian country.

Speaking after signing the agreement with his counterpart Senior Lieutenant General To Lam, the Vietnamese Minister for Public Security, Home Secretary Sajid Javid said:

Modern slavery is an appalling crime which destroys the lives of its victims. This government is committed to doing everything we can to protect people from being exploited in the UK and overseas.

Working in partnership with other nations, such as Vietnam where many victims are trafficked from, is absolutely vital in preventing modern slavery from taking place and being able to relentlessly pursue the perpetrators.

This close collaboration will be a powerful weapon in the fight against modern slavery.

The agreement is part of the UK’s world-leading action to tackle modern slavery, which includes requiring employers to set out how they are tackling exploitation in their supply chains, action taken against offenders and increased support for potential victims of modern slavery.

In total, £200 million of UK aid funding has been committed by the government to tackle modern slavery across the globe.

This includes the Home Office’s £33.5 million modern slavery fund, which is focused on countries from where a high number of victims are trafficked to the UK, such as Vietnam and Nigeria.