At the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday 19 September, the Prime Minister announced new domestic measures and an investment of £20 million in the new Global Fund to End Modern Slavery. In total the UK will double its development spending on modern slavery to £150million, enabling more work in collaboration with source and transit countries.
Speaking at an event hosted by Alliance 8.7 at the General Assembly, immediately after the Prime Minister’s announcement, International Development Secretary, Priti Patel, joined in the call for further action to tackle modern slavery.
Priti Patel also welcomed the “wake-up call” provided by new global estimates, which show that if all enslaved people were brought together in a single country, it would be the 34th most populous country in the world, ahead of Poland and Canada.
International Development Secretary, Priti Patel, said:
The UK’s call to action is on behalf of some of the most victimised, brutalised, exploited people in the world.
I recently met young female victims of trafficking at a safe house in Lagos, and heart-breaking testimonies like theirs vividly demonstrate that modern slavery is a scourge that needs to be eradicated.
In Nigeria, as well as many places around the world, we are stepping up our efforts and rising to this challenge – we will not accept a world where human beings are bought and sold.
Notes to editors:
- Pictures and B-Roll: Please see video and picture content from DFID modern slavery programmes in Nepal, as well as personal testimonies from victims and vulnerable people supported through UK aid.
- For photo credit, AD is Anna Dubuis/DFID and SM is Steph Moor/DFID.
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