The number of modern slavery victims is much higher than was previously thought in Britain, with as many as 13,000 people reportedly being held in conditions of slavery, according to a British Home Office report. The scale of abuse was described as "shocking" by Home Secretary Theresa May.
An estimated 10,000 to 13,000 victims of modern slavery, which include women forced into prostitution, "imprisoned" domestic staff and laborers in fields, factories and fishing boats, are living in the UK, four times the number previously reported, the Home Office stated.
"The time has come for concerted, coordinated action. ... We must step up the fight against modern slavery in this country, and internationally, to put an end to the misery suffered by innocent people around the world," May said at the launch of the Government's modern slavery strategy.
In what is said to be the first scientific estimate of the scale of modern slavery in the UK, data from the National Crime Agency's Human Trafficking Centre had previously put the number of slavery victims in 2013 at 2,744, The BBC reported.
"Modern slavery is very often deeply hidden and so it is a great challenge to assess its scale," the Home Office chief scientific adviser Professor Bernard Silverman, who calculated the "dark figure" of victim numbers that are not reported to the law enforcement agencies, said.
"The data collected is inevitably incomplete and, in addition, has to be very carefully handled because of its sensitivity."
"The first step to eradicating the scourge of modern slavery is acknowledging and confronting its existence. The estimated scale of the problem in modern Britain is shocking and these new figures starkly reinforce the case for urgent action," May added while outlining the strategy for government departments, its agencies and partners.
Currently making its way through Parliament, the Modern Slavery Bill would provide courts in England and Wales with new powers to protect people who are trafficked into the country against their will, The Telegraph reported. Similar measures are being planned by Scotland and Northern Ireland.
However, legislation will "only be part of the answer," May said, adding that the "grim reality" portrayed slavery to still exist in towns, cities and the countryside across the globe, including the UK.
Instead, the UK Border Force is attempting to curb the number of domestic slavery victims, who are brought in from countries like Albania, Nigeria, Vietnam and Romania through the practice of human trafficking, by rolling out specialist trafficking teams to target and monitor major airports and ports of entry to spot potential victims.
Additionally, British embassies abroad will also work with liaisons from the National Crime Agency to strengthen preventative measures before trafficked humans leave their home country, the Home Office said.
But Aidan McQuade, director of charity Anti-Slavery International, questioned whether the government's strategy stretches far enough to strengthen the legal framework which could eventually help in the proceeds of the crime, according to International Business Times.
"If you leave an employment relationship, even if you're suffering from any sort of exploitation up to and including forced labor, even if you're suffering from all sorts of physical and sexual violence, you'll be deported," he said.
"So that gives an enormous power in the hands of unscrupulous employers. And frankly the protections which the government has put in place are not worth the paper they're written on in order to prevent this sort of exploitation once they've given employers that sort of power."
