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 the authorities. Instead, anti-trafficking is used as a justification for police raids and arrests. This isolates 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; ensuring that women have the money and resources to feed themselves and their families — making them less vulnerable to those ready to exploit them.