An Oxford History Professor, Dr Andrew Thompson, met with survivors, activists, business leader, and international diplomats as commissioners of a government backed global initiative confronting modern-day slavery. This was led by former UK Prime Minister Theresa May MP.
Modern-day slavery is a growing phenomenon. With an increase of 10 million people being forced to work or marry since 2016, the estimate of people living in modern slavery reaches over 50 million.
The Global Commission of Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking has been funded and supported by the UK and Bahrain governments. The aim of the organisation is to “exert high-level political leverage to restore political momentum towards achieving UN Sustainable Development Goal 8.7 to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking” as said on the website.
Professor Andrew Thompson says, “This new Global Commission has been formed to restore lost momentum to global efforts to end modern slavery and human trafficking – one of the greatest human rights issues of our times.” Dr Thompson told Cherwell that his involvement “grows out of a major investment I secured when I was the head of a U.K. research funding agency and International Champion of U.K. Research & Innovation — which led to the setting up of a new £10 million multidisciplinary Policy and Evidence Centre to tackle human trafficking and modern slavery.”
As a specialist in Global and Imperial History, Professor Thompson goes on to convey that the task of the commission “will be to make a real difference around the world in helping governments, businesses and civil society to reverse the recent alarming increases in slavery and trafficking.”
Further, Professor Thompson has worked alongside NGOs before as the principal investigator on an Arts & Humanities Research Council funded project, “International NGOs and the Long Humanitarian Century: Legacy, Legitimacy and Leading into the Future”. This produced two major reports and collaborated with the UNDP, UK Disasters Emergency Committee, Oxfam, Save the Children and CAFOD. He has also worked closely with leading museums and galleries in the UK and US.
Additionally, the Commission’s own Scoping Study, funded by the UK, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, is designed to work across global and regional intergovernmental bodies, international human rights groups, survivor organisations, civil society organisations and businesses. The study is a literature review of evidence looking at potential priority areas of intervention and a wide consultation on how best to embed people with lived experience in the work and governance of a potential Global Commission.
