Anti-Slavery Day Awards 2018: Winners Announced!
On Monday 15th October, HTF was delighted to present the 2018 Anti-Slavery Day Awards at Speaker’s House. These awards go to those members of the journalists and film makers who have highlighted issues of human trafficking, as well as to individuals and organisations who have made an outstanding contribution to the fight against modern slavery.
Media Awards
We were immensely grateful that the Home Secretary, Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, was able to present the media awards.
1. Best written opinion piece dealing with Modern Slavery or Human Trafficking:
“Who should be ‘spotting the signs’ of Modern Slavery”
Leticia Ishibashi in an article published by the NGO Focus on Labour Exploitation (FLEX)
2. Best written news piece dealing with Modern Slavery or Human Trafficking:
‘”I feel I am dying’: UK visa reform leaves abused workers vulnerable”
Jack Barton in an article published by WikiTribune
3. Best investigative newspaper article dealing with Modern Slavery or Human Trafficking:
“Dark factories: Labour exploitation in Britain’s garment industry”
Sarah O’Connor for the Financial Times
4. Best broadcast piece dealing with Modern Slavery or Human Trafficking:
BBC Northern Ireland
5. Best Film dealing with Modern Slavery or Human Trafficking:
ECPAT UK and Animage Films
6. Best work Raising Awareness or Educating about Modern Slavery or Human Trafficking:
“Forced Labour in the UK: I tried to escape….they cut my finger off”
Layli Foroudi for the Financial Times
Outstanding Contribution
Vernon Coaker MP, Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Human Trafficking Modern Slavery and HTF Trustee, presented the Trustee awards of Outstanding Contribution to Rt Hon Fiona Mactaggart for her tireless work to prevent slavery and to support its victims.
The Marsh Awards for outstanding contributions to the fight against slavery were presented by Trish Davidson for the Marsh Christian Trust
David Camp, Stronger Together
David founded and runs the business led initiative ‘Stronger Together’ and is the Chief Executive of the Association of Business Providers. Stronger Together has formed a network with the 9 largest UK supermarkets and their suppliers to tackle modern slavery. They work with employers and providers to deter, detect and deal appropriately with forced labour, labour trafficking and other hidden exploitation, always promoting a victim led approach to protect vulnerable individuals. David promotes good practice in Labour providers, an identified high risk group regarding modern slavery.
Iwona Twarda, SIFA Fireside
SIFA Fireside is a charity which works to address the needs of homeless and vulnerably housed people in the wider Birmingham area. The panel were impressed by Iwona’s work to develop methods to identify and support victims on slavery who were not previously being recognised, to train other staff and to recognise the risks of traffickers targeting people accessing the service and to put in place counter trafficking patrols to identify and to prevent this.
Jill Robinson & Elizabeth McKee, Flourish Northern Ireland,
Founded 4 years ago, Flourish serves survivors of human trafficking and their families in Northern Ireland by supporting survivors to move on and live independently. They work alongside survivors and offer personalised support including financial / benefits advice, support with employment, housing, education opportunities, life skills and compassion and friendship. Their focus is on long term recovery through building confidence and resilience. This impressive work, currently supporting over 60 people, is done almost entirely by volunteers, Flourish NI only employed its first part time staff member in 2017.