A UK government backed fund set up to combat modern day slavery across the world has announced a grant of up to £800,000 each for a new set of projects, including one in India.
The Modern Slavery Innovation Fund (MSIF) supports international projects to find innovative ways of stopping modern slavery.
The MSIF on Friday (26 April) announced up to £800,000 each for projects across the world, including to the Freedom Fund working in India, a senior official said.
“Together with our frontline partners, we are providing essential support to victims of child labour, early marriage, forced labour, debt bondage and sex trafficking in high-prevalence areas of India and elsewhere,” said Nick Grono, CEO of the Freedom Fund.
He said that this grant will enable them to develop and roll out a highly innovative, victim-centred joint service delivery model that combines the most effective anti-slavery approaches with international social care best practice.
“It will allow groups of grassroots organisations, as well as government agencies, to coordinate more effectively and provide greatly improved personalised care to victims and their families,” he added.
The latest funding marks the second phase of the £33.5 million MSIF and will run until 2021. The first phase of the fund totalled £6 million and supported 10 projects between March 2017 and 2019.
“Modern slavery is one of the most heinous crimes imaginable. It impacts on some of the most vulnerable people in the world, but also funds organised crime at home in the UK,” said Penny Mordaunt, UK international development minister.
“The UK aid will support the Modern Slavery Innovation Fund to trial new ways to stop this crime. By working across government and with businesses to end trafficking, we will create a safer and more prosperous world for us all,” she said.
India is among the countries, including Ethiopia, Mauritius, South Africa, Nepal and Malaysia, which are covered by the latest UK initiative to combat modern slavery around the world.
Britain has hailed itself a leader in global efforts to end slavery, and passed the Modern Slavery Act in 2015 to crack down on traffickers, force businesses to check their supply chains for forced labour, and protect people at risk of being enslaved.
The British government has committed a total of £200 million in aid funding to combat modern-day slavery overseas.
About 40 million people worldwide are living as slaves – trapped in forced labour or forced marriages – according to a landmark estimate by Australian rights group the Walk Free Foundation and the U.N. International Labor Organization (ILO).
