Opposing modern slavery anywhere and everywhere

Kilburn Unemployed Workers Group is not only against the transformation of the UK employment market into a graduated modern slavery market. It is shocking to know that the UK Government is making the terms and conditions of claiming unemployment-related benefits in the UK so uncomfortable at the outset that the claimant will leap at such a useless exit ploy as the  New Enterprise Allowance. That 'exit strategy' leaves naïve 'participants' prone to fines from HM Revenue and Customs when they fail to do something that their goverment funded training did not provide them with: training in negotiating their first tax return.

Yes, what is happening to EU nationals in the UK benefits system is nasty, but imagine what it is like for people who have been placed in the UK by way of destabilisation of their home by way of a war that has been bankrolled by UK taxpayers. Those identified by the UK 'Home Office' as 'illegal migrants' are more likely to be targeted as criminals than as victims of crime.

When people are enslaved as migrant workers, they are dispersed with even less access to their human rights than the current UK Government is allowed to allow new and established benefit claimants etc. Our Helen2 has forwarded the below from Walk Free.org for wider transmission.

Hi,

UN officials have just reported that as many as 1,500 people fleeing religious persecution in Iraq have been captured and may be at risk of modern slavery.

Khandhar Kaliph’s daughter is one of them. “She said she is going to be sold as a slave […] for $10. What can a father say to that? How can I help? We all feel so useless.” Khandhar has been despairing over the safety of his child ever since.

In early August, tens of thousands of people belonging to a religious minority group rejected by the Islamic State (formerly known as ISIS) fled their homes in terror as militants took over their town. Hundreds of these women have reportedly now been kidnapped and are being held inside a police station in northern Iraq. Without immediate action, they and thousands more like them could be at risk of modern slavery.

One thing you can do right now is help secure justice for Khandhar’s daughter and others like her. Click to call on the International Criminal Court to immediately investigate and try those suspected of enslaving Iraqis.

Thanks,