Slavery

(asked on 3rd October 2019) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the announcement by the former Prime Minister the Rt Hon. Theresa May at the centenary conference of the International Labour Organisation on 11 June 2019 of the creation of an International Modern Slavery and Migration Envoy, by what date that post will be appointed, what the remit of that post is; and for what reasons that post is responsible for both modern slavery and migration.


Answered by
Heather Wheeler Portrait
Heather Wheeler
This question was answered on 8th October 2019

​One of the recommendations of the Independent Review of the Modern Slavery Act was the establishment of an international modern slavery envoy, to represent the UK in international discussions on modern slavery and to advance the government's objectives on this vital agenda.

HMG expects to announce the name of the successful candidate shortly.

The FCO have agreed with other relevant Government Departments that this role will be most effective if it is combined with the existing migration envoy role. In international settings, trafficking and migration are often covered in the same dialogues, and we believe that similar skills would be required for both components of the role. This also reflects the joint roles of some of our interlocutors in key capitals. However it is important that trafficking should not be seen through a purely migration prism, and vice versa.

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