The latest figures show that the overall no. rose by a 3rd in 2017 from 2016.

The no. of Indian citizens referred as potential victims of trafficking & modern slavery in United Kingdom has increased from 100 in 2016 to 140 in 2017, ranking India among the top ten countries in the list, new figures showed on Monday.

India is 9th in the list topped by the United Kingdom. The 2017 figures for Indian citizens released by Britain’s National Crime Agency include 90 for labor exploitation, 25 for domestic servitude, 18 for sexual exploitation & 7 categorized as unknown exploitation.

Charity organisations such as Southall Black Sisters & Kalayaan deal with victims of modern slavery from India & other countries. Many victims are brought to the UK under the “domestic workers in a private household visa”.

The situation of such victims is dealt with by 2 agencies under a national referral mechanism: the NCA’s modern slavery human trafficking unit & the Home Office. The latest figures show that the overall no. rose by a 3rd in 2017 from 2016.

The NCA’s end of year summary for 2017 said, those referred as victims of modern slavery & human trafficking came from 116 different nationalities, with UK, Albanian & Vietnamese nationals remaining the most commonly reported victims,

In her previous role as home secretary, PM Theresa May had piloted the Modern Slavery Act 2015 through Parliament, which gave law enforcement agencies more powers to deal with the issue, following growing concern in the UK.

NCA director Will Kerr said, “What this report reinforces is that we're now dealing with an evolving threat. The criminals involved in these types of exploitation are going into online spaces, particularly adult services website, to enable their criminality."

“We're also seeing increasing crossovers between slavery & organised immigration crime outside of the UK. Often the same criminal networks are involved in transportation & migrants themselves are vulnerable to labor & sexual exploitation during their journeys & after.”

Victoria Atkins, Minister for Crime, safeguarding & vulnerability, added, “Modern slavery & trafficking are despicable crimes which see some of the most vulnerable people in society targeted by ruthless predators."

he further said that, “These figures show that more potential victims are being identified and protected thanks to a greater awareness and improved understanding of modern slavery. We are also beginning to see the operational results of the renewed focus on modern slavery, with over 600 live police operations underway.”

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