Independent Review of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (2018)
In 2018, the Government commissioned an independent review of the Modern Slavery Act 2015. The ECP submitted evidence of how despite millions of pounds of funding, victims of trafficking get little or no help from authorities. Instead, police raids and arrests in the name of anti-trafficking works to isolate sex workers and makes it harder for women to come forward to report exploitation, rape and other violence.
The submission concludes that an effective anti-trafficking strategy must include the decriminalisation of sex work to enable women to insist on the same labour rights as other workers and report violence without fear of arrest, ending the hostile immigration environment, and ensuring that women have the money and resources to feed themselves and their families, making them less vulnerable to those ready to exploit them.