6 h. ago Theresa May calls on businesses to investigate supply chains for modern slavery

The former PM said that modern slavery is ‘the greatest human rights issue of our time’.

Economics

24 h. ago The Guardian view on the online scam industry: authorities must not forget that perpetrators are often victims too | Editorial

A lucrative sector is spreading fast as criminal enterprises force abused and trafficked workers to cheat othersA Chinese court last month sentenced 11 people to death over their roles in a illegal scam empire along the border with Myanmar. But it won’t end a noxious multibillion-dollar industry that devastates the lives of two sets of victims. The first are those cheated out of money, often by people posing as potential romantic or business partners in what are known as “pig‑butchering” schemes. The second are those who are forced to cheat them, working in conditions amounting to modern slavery.The recent study, Scam: Inside Southeast Asia’s Cybercrime Compounds, by Ivan Franceschini, Ling Li and Mark Bo, paints a terrifying picture of the sector. Workers are trafficked into heavily guarded, prison-like compounds, where they are routinely abused and tortured for failing to meet targets, or extorted for ransoms. Others take the jobs willingly, but find that they cannot repay ru...

Events

3 w. ago ‘A broken system full of criminality and death’: the podcast lifting the lid on what happens to the UK’s rubbish

Turkey’s recycling centres treat vast amounts of the UK’s waste – and rely on refugees who work in conditions so unsafe that hundreds have died. A new podcast uncovers the sinister side of what happens when Brits throw things awayOn his way to a remote industrial zone at the edge of Istanbul, Adnan Khan compares it to something out of Mad Max. Packs of wild dogs roam around desolate wastelands; toxic chemicals spill out into the street, with corrugated metal sheets and “slapdash factories” scattered around. “It’s like a shantytown,” he says.However, once he sets foot inside some of these factories, he reaches for a different cinematic comparison. This time he’s thinking of the torture-horror film Saw, as he witnesses Afghan refugees working and living in conditions that he says fit the UN definition of modern-day slavery. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Concern as six per cent of human ­trafficking and modern slavery cases end in conviction

Research has found only a tiny ­proportion of criminal charges concerning trafficking and slavery lead to a guilty verdict in court.

Politics

3 w. ago Home Office quietly blocks modern slavery challenges under chaotic deportation scheme

Exclusive: Migrants in the UK due for deportation to France will not be allowed to request review of modern slavery decision

Society

3 w. ago Home Secretary accused of putting lives at risk over modern slavery comments

Shabana Mahmood has claimed that migrants are ‘deciding that they are a modern slave on the eve of their removal’

Society

3 w. ago Home secretary vows to ‘fight vexatious modern slavery claims’ stopping deportation flights to France

Shabana Mahmood has claimed that migrants are ‘deciding that they are a modern slave on the eve of their removal’

Society

3 w. ago Home secretary vows to ‘fight vexatious modern slavery claims’ to stop deportation flights to France

Shabana Mahmood claimed migrants are ‘deciding that they are a modern slave on the eve of their removal’

Society

3 w. ago Hundreds of modern slavery victims working in Britain’s hospitality industry, charity warns

Similar abuses evident in the care sector in recent years ‘are now becoming apparent in the hospitality industry’

Events