Identifying Unfinished Business: The UK Modern Slavery Act (2015)

Almost two hundred years after the anti-slavery legislation associated with William Wilberforce, the UK government passed the Modern Slavery Act, acknowledging the fact that slavery had never really gone away. What is different now is that “modern slavery”, is present within the UK itself rather than in far-flung countries where Britons preferred to overlook working conditions. This talk will briefly trace the links between historical forms of slavery and its modern manifestations, and will critically examine claims by the government that the Act is world-leading.

Speaker: Prof Gary Craig

Gary Craig is Professor of Community Development and Social Justice at Durham University, and Emeritus Professor of Social Justice at the Wilberforce Institute for the study of Slavery and Emancipation at the University Hull which he helped to found and where he led the team working on modern slavery research. He co-wrote the first major scoping study of modern slavery in the UK, collaborated in several major studies of human trafficking and forced labour and was very actively engaged in shaping the final form of the UK Modern Slavery Act.

This talk is the last in the series titled The British Business of Slavery, curated by Deborah Lavin.

Tickets: individual tickets £5, students and participating society members £3. Series ticket £30, students and participating society members £21.