Young people in the UK are increasingly becoming victims of modern slavery – and a new resource backed by the Church of England is designed to help schools play a part in combating the trend.
Resources to be released in September will help them raise awareness of the issue.
The resources are a result of a collaboration between The Clewer Initiative, a project helping the Church of England to respond to modern slavery, and Just Enough UK, an educational charity teaching children about difficult subjects like modern slavery and terrorism.
They will include lesson plans, material for collective worship and guides for teachers.
According to the National Crime Agency referrals of under-18s as potential victims of modern slavery increased 66 per cent to 2118 in 2017, compared to 1278 in 2016. Minors are at particular risk of exploitation – including child sexual exploitation. In 2017, 559 minors – 497 girls and 62 boys – were found to be potential victims of sexual exploitation, 119 were found in domestic servitude, and more than a thousand in labour exploitation.
Modern slavery is thought to be taking place in every town and city in the UK, with high risk areas including hand car washes and nail bars. The Clewer Initiative recently launched the Safe Car Wash App, designed to help raise awareness of modern slavery in hand car washes.
The bishop of Derby, Alastair Redfern, who chairs The Clewer Initiative, said: 'Our intention is to produce innovative and interactive material to give teachers the confidence to equip children with the knowledge and the tools to combat modern slavery in the world around them.
'Young people are an integral part of the catalyst for change, while at the same time being at risk of becoming victims of trafficking themselves. This project is a chance to prevent human trafficking and modern slavery before it even begins.'
Phil Knight, CEO of Just Enough UK, said: 'For five years now Just Enough UK has been going into schools all across the UK educating young children on how we can stop Modern Day Slavery for future generations. We have done this organically on reputation alone but now partnering with The Clewer Initiative will open our message of a slavery free future to so many schools across this great country that we could not be more excited to be working together.'
The resources will be available through an online portal on websites of The Clewer Initiative and Just Enough UK. Anyone who would like to be notified when the resources are released can sign up to a mailing list.
