M Stands for Media, Migration, and Modern Slavery in the UK

Background

In the UK, recent studies indicate a significant increase of illegal foreign migrants in major areas of England (Townsend, 2013; Etter & Nash, 2016; Economist, 2018). Most of these migrants reside in five major areas in England, which are Yorkshire, Humber, London, the North West and the Midlands. According to the Telegraph (2016), “the majority of the population, 183,000 are believed to live in England. Yorkshire and Humber, London, the North West and the Midlands have been identified as areas where there are large numbers of illegal foreign migrants.”

In recent times, media organizations and human rights groups have issued warnings over the increase of victimization and modern slavery actions against foreign migrants in the UK. Aljazeera (2015) reported that the UK government estimates that there are around 13,000 modern slaves in Britain with the largest number from Romania, Albania, Nigeria, and Vietnam and from Britain itself. According to the Financial Times (2015), “exploitation of migrant workers by unscrupulous UK employees is on the increase. Such modern slavery is being driven by rising demand for cheap products and the lure of the British economy to those unable to find jobs in their home countries”. Thus, there is a significant increase of modern slavery actions against migrants in UK. This chapter examined the issues of modern slavery actions against foreign migrants in UK as well as the possible solutions suggested by media outlets and human right groups, using documentaries as examples