Theresa May has called on businesses to investigate their supply chains for modern slavery and to play their part in eradicating it.
The former prime minister argued that ending modern slavery is the responsibility of everyone including civil society, government and businesses.
Speaking at the launch of an art exhibition in London last week, Baroness May of Maidenhead said modern slavery is “the greatest human rights issue of our time”.
She said: “It’s difficult, as we stand here in these wonderful surroundings, to realise, to imagine, to think that within a mile, maybe half mile, from where we’re standing, throughout London and throughout the whole country, there are people tonight who are living in the enduring misery of slavery, their freedom cruelly torn from them.
“They have no hope of any choice in their life. They are exploited for the personal benefit or commercial or criminal gain of others, stripped of their human dignity.
“They are around us in every country of the world. No country is immune. But they are hidden in plain sight. Fifty million people across the world in slavery and that is an estimate – and it may be an underestimate.
“And that is why this issue of modern slavery and human trafficking is what I describe as the greatest human rights issue of our time.”
Lady May, who introduced the landmark Modern Slavery Act as home secretary in 2015, now chairs the Global Commission on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking.
She told attendees at the exhibition launch: “If we are going to do what we all want to do, which is to eradicate modern slavery and human trafficking, we all have a role to play…
“It’s an issue for people, for civil society, for business and for government.”
She added: “If every business properly looked at their supply chains, investigated whether there is slavery, forced labour in their supply chains, and then didn’t walk away but did something about it, it would make a huge difference.
“About 28 million of those 50 million people in slavery around the world are in forced labour. So it’s important that we all play a role, that we all play our part.”
The exhibition, entitled Art Is Freedom, contains artwork and photography by survivors of modern slavery and is being showcased at different locations across London, including Trafalgar Square and London Bridge Station.
It is run by Hestia, an organisation that supports those who have experienced crisis and trauma, including survivors of modern slavery and domestic abuse.
Each year, survivors of modern slavery in Hestia’s services take part in art and photography workshops with professional artists to create artworks for the exhibition. This year’s theme was “Seen and Heard”.
Lady May said: “The the work of organisations like Hestia is so important – working with survivors, helping them to express their stories, so that we can understand better, helping them to share their experiences, giving them the support that is needed to help them to find a way in a world that has been closed to them by the actions of their slave drivers.
“And this art exhibition, this artwork, this project that Hestia does is also so important, because it is through these pieces of art – the photography, the knitting and the paintings – that actually survivors are able to tell us their story. They are able to have the thing that they never had before, which is to have a voice.”
