We must all Òght slavery

Ben, who, for various reasons, found himself sleeping rough.

With no family or other support network, he had very few opportunities. But Ben was determined to turn his life around and so, when he was offered the opportunity to work at a privately run blockpaving business, he accepted. He was taken to a site many miles away, where, over a period of months, he was intimidated, beaten and forced to work for little or no payment.

Terrified of the consequences of leaving, he became trapped in a cycle of abuse which left him deeply traumatised.

There are tens of thousands of people like Ben across the country and that should trouble every single one of us. Many of us use contractors of one kind or another regularly and we might never know if we had unwittingly contributed to the plight of someone like Ben.

As a people, we were born into slavery in the land of Egypt and it is that seminal experience from which all Jewish identity flows. The foundations of Jewish belief stand on the principle that all people are created in the image of God and every single person, deserves to be treated with respect. Speaking out against the flagrant violations of human dignity implicit in this crime, should be in our DNA.

That is why slavery demands our urgent attention. If we do nothing, we remain a part of the problem, but, if we act, we can begin to end the scourge of modern-day slavery.

It is essential that we try to better understand the problem and how to identify it. René Cassin, which carries out excellent work in this area, can provide resources and training to help in this regard.

We can add our voices to the campaigns against modern slavery and human trafficking led by Kevin Hyland, the Anti-Slavery Commissioner. We can hold local businesses and contractors to account by raising the matter with them and asking what efforts they make to tackle this issue in their supply chains.

This Sunday is World Human Rights day and marks the beginning of a year-long campaign to mark the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. My hope is that generations from now, our children’s children will look back with pride on the efforts of the Jewish community, leading from the front in the protection of human dignity for all people. If that is to be the case, the time to speak out and

act is now.

Slavery is all around us, very often in plain sight

Ephraim Mirvis is the Chief Rabbi