Identifying a victim of modern slavery – and what to do about it

Olivier Roth speaks to Justine Currell, CEO of Unseen, about the work her charity does with victims of modern slavery.

They talk about the steps that individuals – including solicitors – should take if they suspect they have encountered a victim of modern slavery.

The discussion moves on to explore how to identify a victim of modern slavery, and how the National Referral Mechanism works.

Modern slavery is an endemic problem worldwide, with an estimated 13,000 victims in the UK, and 40 million worldwide.

Speakers

• Olivier Roth, domestic human rights and constitutional law policy adviser, Law Society
• Justine Currell, CEO, Unseen

Justine joined Unseen in May 2016 following a 28-year career in the civil service. During that time, she held a variety of operational and policy posts working across a number of government departments.

For the last five years of her civil service career, Justine was the modern slavery senior policy adviser in the Home Office and led on development of the Modern Slavery Act, including the transparency in supply chains provision and business guidance, working closely with ministers, businesses and international colleagues.

Since joining Unseen, Justine has been called upon to provide her insight and experience on the issue of modern slavery to media, law enforcement agencies, safeguarding professionals and business.

She has specifically provided support to a number of key businesses on developing their response to supply chain transparency and is highly regarded in this field.

Since joining Unseen, Justine has successfully developed and launched the new and enhanced Modern Slavery Helpline and Resource Centre which has become a vital tool for all in the UK’s fight against modern slavery.

Justine seeks to use her experience and knowledge of working with UK ministers to influence other governments internationally to take action to address modern slavery and, in particular, business supply chain issues.