Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery Conference Chaired by St Mary's Dr Carole Murphy

A recent conference, Combating Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery: Developing a Stronger Multi-Agency Response for the Identification and Support for Victims of Trafficking was chaired by Dr Carole Murphy, St Mary’s University, Twickenham, who has been taking a lead in setting up the Centre for the Study of Modern Slavery at St Mary’s University. The event, organised by Public Policy Exchange, encouraged discussion on a range of topics including how to build effective partnerships to increase convictions of traffickers and improve care of victims, the potential impact of Brexit on the fight against human trafficking and the requirements of the Modern Slavery Act, 2015, for businesses to prevent human trafficking in supply chains. Dr Murphy opened the event, which took place on Thursday 15^th September, by emphasising the timeliness of the event and the breadth of knowledge and experience of the speakers, who together, represent most of the key organisations involved in campaigning, supporting victims, and policing of human trafficking in the UK. The event featured two panel sessions – the first on Human Trafficking – The National Outlook and Latest Policy Developments; and the second on Identifying, Safeguarding and Supporting Victims of Trafficking – Strengthening Multi-agency Response to Stop Perpetrators and Secure Justice.  Dr Murphy commented, “Events such as these are critical in encouraging debate and information sharing on this important issue, and identifying collaborative methods to respond based on multi-agency working. The conference not only brought together leading practitioners and campaigners to discuss emerging trends in human trafficking and modern slavery, our conversations may have a meaningful impact on disseminating good practice for safeguarding victims and strengthening victim support.” The conference included leading experts on the subject including Fiona Mactaggart MP, Co-Chair, All-Party Parliamentary Group on Human Trafficking/Modern Day Slavery; experts from the Salvation Army; the Human Trafficking Foundation; the Helen Bamber Foundation; Eversheds; and the Metropolitan Police.