(C) OpenDemocracy
This story was originally published by OpenDemocracy and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



Law enforcement alone will never stop modern slavery [1]

[]

Date: 2025-06

In September 2024, the BBC reported on a case of modern slavery in England. It told a story of Czech workers forced into labour. Some were at a McDonald’s franchise in Cambridgeshire, others at a factory supplying pita bread to major British supermarkets.

The reporting followed a familiar template. The piece asked why the companies hadn’t spotted the signs of modern slavery, like the workers’ long hours, or their lack of control over their bank accounts. There was dramatic footage from a police raid, pictures of squalid accommodation, and brief interviews with the workers. The perpetrator’s lavish lifestyle was highlighted. At the end, the big golden chains he wore were replaced with handcuffs.

The usual talking heads then followed: former UK Prime Minister Theresa May, the UK’s former anti-slavery commissioner, and a representative from the NGO Justice and Care. Contrite statements from the implicated companies were read out by the presenter, which said they take the issues “seriously” and either no longer use the suppliers or have improved inspections. The workers seemed pleased to see their exploiter behind bars. But they said they’d still like the companies to apologise.

I’m glad the BBC described the signs of modern slavery and showed that household-name companies can be involved. Yet I was disappointed that, yet again, the dominant message was that law enforcement is the solution. Being tough on criminals solves modern slavery was the clear takeaway. After all, we’d just seen one end up behind bars.

This is fantasy.

A mirror to the society

A few weeks before the BBC piece, the Guardian published a series of investigations by the Czech journalist Saša Uhlová. She went undercover as a farm worker in Germany, a cleaner at a hotel in Dublin, and a care worker in Marseille, France.

Like the BBC, Uhlová describes many well-established trafficking indicators: lack of contracts, long hours, poor pay, instructions on how to behave in front of inspectors, and a second set of “official” timesheets. These cases sit somewhere on the continuum of exploitation between decent work and forced labour, and would likely fit the formal definitions of human trafficking or modern slavery. But in this case, we do not hear about anyone leaving the building in handcuffs.

The significance of these stories is not that some crimes are punished and some are not. To me, they illustrate why responses that rely predominantly on law and order have not led to significant reductions in modern slavery. It will not end until we accept how fundamental exploitation is to our societies and economies. It’s built into the bedrock of the global system, and there isn’t a prison big enough to hold everybody implicated.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-trafficking-and-slavery/law-enforcement-alone-will-never-stop-modern-slavery/

Published and (C) by OpenDemocracy
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-ND 4.0.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/opendemocracy/