"Traffickers could profit when UK eases lockdown, anti-slavery chief warns"

In an interview for Thomson Reuters Foundation, Dame Sara warns that Britain must be vigilant against human traffickers when it eases the coronavirus lockdown, warning of potential exploitation in industries such as hospitality that will be in a rush to recruit new workers.

"Traffickers could profit when UK eases lockdown, anti-slavery chief warns" (Thomson Reuters Foundation, 05/05/20)

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to present this week a possible way out of the lockdown to revive the economy and allow people to return to work without triggering a second spike in COVID-19 cases.

Yet traffickers could capitalise as businesses race to recruit low-paid workers, said Sara Thornton, who took up the post of independent anti-slavery commissioner a year ago.

“A sudden rush to recruit into hospitality, into hotels ... any industry ... we have to really look out for that because it’s where traffickers ... take their cut,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a phone interview. “That’s a real risk.” 

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