Statement from GFEMS leadership on UK contribution

Prime Minister Theresa May announced this week at the UN General Assembly that the UK will contribute £20M to the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery (GFEMS). The Prime Minister made this announcement at a roundtable she hosted for 36 other member states in which she issued a Call to Action to End Forced Labour, Modern Slavery, and Human Trafficking.

“For a crime that has no respect for borders, we need a truly international response. [The UK] will double its aid spending on modern slavery to 150 million pounds, enabling more collaboration with source and transit countries,” said PM May. “This will also include 20 million pounds of seed funding to the new Global Fund to End Modern Slavery….I wholeheartedly commend this initiative to you all.”

Secretary of State for International Development Priti Patel remarked upon the insidious nature of modern slavery, and noted that our global response must be more robust if we wish to effectively combat the issue: “Forced labour is a $150 billion dollar industry – in comparison the global response is not sufficient…And that has to change.” Secretary Patel highlighted that the UK will contribute greater resources to the fight against modern slavery, in part through “funding for [GFEMS] which seeks to leverage $1.5 billion to address the resourcing gap for modern slavery” and called on other donors to join the endeavor.

We are deeply grateful for the vision and commitment of PM May as a leader in developing and implementing a coherent, global strategy to fight modern slavery. We look forward to working closely with our partners in the UK, and invite others around the world to join us.

Questions about this announcement may be sent to media@gfems.org.