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epigram 28.02.2023
and general apathy on the streets. A lack of understanding translates to a lack of empathy and subsequently a lack of care. Modern slavery as a term is simply too broad and too uncertain to be helpful on local levels, let alone in national and international spheres. And so, when notable figures – politicians to actors – decry modern slavery, public outrage is a justified but meaningless reaction. Genuine change requires a more precise understanding of what exploitative practices constitute modern slavery.
'"Slavery no longer exists as a legally recognized system or status, so what exactly is [it] that you are calling on [people] to struggle against, and what do you want them to struggle for?"'
For example, victims involved in criminal exploitation would be recognised as criminals themselves, invoking longer prison sentences despite acting against their own free will. Further policies included reducing the amount of time victims have to write their testimonials from 45 to 30 days. For Will Robinson, Senior Fundraiser for Unseen UK, this is ‘very detrimental. Having been through a lot of trauma, you really can’t put a time limit on a witness statement.’ Aside from this legal antipathy, Robinson cites the government’s lack of engagement as ‘the most harmful thing they could be doing right now’. Strict anti-migration policies appeal to a conservative audience caught in the throes of isolationism, austerity and financial gloom. And looking outwards is easy when channel crossings are at an all-time high. Yet the issue of modern slavery is also somewhat ‘homegrown’: in 2018, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS), nearly a quarter of potential modern slavery victims identified by the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) were UK nationals. Many of these victims are children, with child-related referrals totalling 5468 in the year ending 2022. 79 per cent of this figure were boys, a number which has increased year on year since 2015. Unseen, whose headquarters are in Bristol’s Hide Market, note that boys are mostly involved in criminal exploitation. Demand for illegal substances, buoyed by the University’s drug culture, creates a profitable market for county lines operations
took 5 years to collate the evidence of 29 Slovakians who testified against the couple. In that time, all types of modern exploitation have increased, especially labour exploitation. The future of preventing and detecting instances of modern exploitation is therefore somewhat dependent on greater public engagement. In this instance, Will Robinson believes that a surface-level solution is simple: ‘if something doesn’t feel right, even if you’re unsure, report it to the police or Unseen’s helpline’. Back at the house, a young woman walks past cradling a baby. The wind picks up and carries the drone of a lawnmower yawning across the estate. This house was once described as ‘a gateway to hell’ but it now just looks like a normal suburban abode, one amongst dozens along this road and hundreds within this community. My thoughts turn to the 40plus exploited victims who passed
through this house. For 10 years, Tancos and Gomulska kept men and women captive in this property, in a normal Bristol suburb, and no one noticed. This is the reality of modern exploitation: hidden in plain sight, it could happen anywhere, anytime and to anyone. Yet it only takes one speculative phone call to bring the whole system into the light. Unseen operates the Modern Slavery Helpline: 08000 121 700 1. These records, running to 2020, are the most recent study conducted for adults. A new review is due imminently. 2. For children, there has been an increasing number of cases being reported on the NRM, a trend which can be viewed positively or negatively according to the way COVID’s impact is perceived.
Bristol's History with Slavery From the 1690s, Bristol ships began legally partaking in the triangular trade system, shipping West African slaves to the West Indies for large
University of Bristol / Epigram
Professor Julia O’Connell Davidson, a Professor of Sociology at the University of Bristol, notes that such imprecision is significant: ‘[…] it’s almost unanimously agreed that slavery is wrong. But slavery no longer exists as a legally recognized system or status, so what exactly is [it] that you are calling on [people] to struggle against, and what do you want them to struggle for?’ Julia continues: ‘If you call the exploited car wash or brothel worker a victim of ‘modern slavery’, you deflect attention from the structures that actually created their vulnerability to exploitation.’ Julia explains that if a young homeless person with drug addiction is found being 'The University's drug culture exploited on a construction site in supports modern slaves exchange for substandard accomcaught in the county lines modation ‘he’s not vulnerable besystem.' cause he has slave status. What has left him open to predation […] is the absence of social housing and which are often supported by illicother forms of social protection, it child labour, forced or voluntary. The developing picture demonincluding support services for people with mental health and addic- strates increasing numbers of potention problems, that has come about tial modern slaves – both child and […] as a result of years of austerity adult – in the UK. This trend could and assaults on the welfare system.’ be interpreted as promising: higher Charities including Unseen UK numbers mean referral systems are and Anti-Slavery International sim- working effectively to identify potenilarly cite cuts to the welfare sys- tial victims. Simultaneously, higher tem, including specialist police numbers could also mean that there branches, as critical in the UK’s fight are increasing numbers of potenagainst various exploitative practic- tial modern slaves in the UK, with es. Brexit has also complicated the an equally increasing proportion of UK’s relationship with Europol, the potential victims left unidentified. As a hidden crime, modern slavEU’s law enforcement agency. This translates to less accountability and ery is hard to prevent, detect and less collaboration in what is intrin- prosecute. Many victims suffer emosically a transnational set of crimes. tional abuse alongside physical exLast year’s Nationality and Borders ploitation, meaning they are often Act (2022), proposed by then Home too afraid or ashamed to seek help. Secretary Priti Patel, promised to The frightening reality is that I could curb illegal migration in response to walk past a stranger on Whiteladies increasing numbers of cross-chan- Road, or Gloucester Road, or Park nel ‘trafficking’. Alongside a swathe Street, and have no idea that they of harsher policies towards immi- were a victim of modern slavery. UK charities currently calculate gration, this bill detailed a punitive response to modern slavery victims. that the UK alone houses between
10,000 and 100,000 modern slaves. This discrepancy is largely thanks to differences in definition: while most definitions encompass 4 main categories – human trafficking, criminal exploitation, sexual exploitation, and forced labour – wider definitions also include everything from organ harvesting to forced marriage. Differences in data collection and interpretation also contribute to this vast discrepancy. The Police and the ONS rely on a mixture of officially recorded data (for example, prosecutions or referrals to the National Referral Mechanism), and ‘unofficial’ data collected from charities operating safehouses and helplines. Accordingly, it is difficult to quantify the reality of modern slavery in the UK owing to a lack of definitional and statistical clarity. Prosecution is also difficult: while Tancos and Gomulska were charged in 2017, they were not convicted and jailed until 2022. It
profit margins. By the 1730s, Bristol had overtaken London to become the UK’s premier slaving port, transporting 8,000 enslaved Africans to North America and the British Caribbean. By the late 1700s, this slave trade dominated Bristol’s foreign trade economy with Bristol-made products such as cooking pots, fabric and alcohol supplying West African markets and the colonies. In return, slaves provided free labour for plantations in the West Indies which produced unrefined sugar, cocoa and tobacco; these were then exported to the UK to be refined in Bristol’s processing factories. While the slave trade was abolished in 1807 and slavery itself outlawed throughout the British Empire in 1834, the vestiges of Bristol’s profit from the slave trade remain: from Wills Memorial to Tyndall’s Park, the Fry building to Goldney Hall each of these places are named after families who directly or indirectly benefitted extensively from Bristol’s slave trade. Even the University crest still bears the insignia of its main benefactors – the Wills, Colston and Fry families – all of whom directly profited from slave trading and who financially
contributed to the University’s establishment. The abolishment of the slave trade and the legal prohibition of slavery across the British Empire provided immediate legal freedom for former slaves. But the imperial culture of racial supremacy remained, fuelling racism long into the 20th century. The Bristol Bus Boycott in 1963 arose from racial discrimination: Black and Asian persons were refused work within the Bristol Omnibus Company, prompting a city-wide bus boycott. Continued racial tension, driven by housing shortages and racial harassment, boiled over in 1980 when the St. Paul’s Riot saw areas of St. Paul’s set on fire in protest against police aggression. In the 21st century, Bristol continues to grapple with its colonial past and the realities of racism in the present. Colston’s toppling drew international attention to the city’s riotous decolonising action, while the University has begun to seriously investigate its links with the city’s slave trade. An ongoing review of the University’s building names has prompted celebration, frustration and many polarised conversations between students, staff and the city’s wider population.