Today marks a special history date for me.
Ten years ago I played a bit-part in marking 18th October as the official Anti-Slavery Day here in the UK.
Working alongside some incredible people Anneliese Pask (now Smith) and Tamlin Vickers and led by the incredible, energetic, infuriating and very stubborn Anthony Steen, without whom this legislation would definitely not have happened, we squeezed a Private Members Bill into legislation (this hardly ever/never happens) just before the 2010 General Election.
The Bill was successfully pushed through both houses and received Royal Assent within just 10-weeks, to officially mark today as an annual date to focus raising awareness of the need to eradicate all forms of modern-day slavery, human trafficking and exploitation.
To say I’m proud of having played a role in this is an understatement. Modern Day Slavery is a very real and current issue. There are more people in modern-day slavery worldwide TODAY than in the entire year-long history of the slave trade and it’s happening all over the UK right now – not far from where you are reading this. Sometimes in businesses, you may be using.
There are 4 different types of modern-day slavery – do you know what they are? Have a look on the Internet – you may be unpleasantly surprised.