Building the capacity of UK organisations to better support voluntary return and reintegration of survivors of modern slavery.

This project is intended to support and improve the capacities of UK support providers in the area of voluntary return and reintegration of survivors of modern slavery and human trafficking.

Some survivors of modern slavery and human trafficking who were exploited in the UK may decide they want to return to their country of origin. Evidence shows that support provided to survivors returning home is crucial to helping them reintegrate safely and ensuring improved protection outcomes, including protection against the risk of being re-trafficked.

Evidence also highlights the important role some UK organisations play in preparing survivors for return and assisting them to access reintegration services and other forms of support in their countries of origin. However, these organisations often face challenges with these processes, including how they can assess and manage potential risks, how they can gather and provide information on support available in countries of return and how they could make a referral to an organisation in the country of return, as highlighted in IOM and Human Trafficking Foundation 2018 paper: Voluntary Return and Reintegration for Survivors of Trafficking | IOM United Kingdom .

This project seeks to increase the capacity of these organisations to improve voluntary return outcomes for survivors of modern slavery returning from the UK. These organisations include those involved in providing direct support to survivors of modern slavery and human trafficking, such as NGOs, charities, community organisations, and local authorities, as well as wider government agencies that may be involved in facilitating voluntary return procedures, including police forces and the Home Office Voluntary Returns Service.

Key Activities Include:

• Assessing the current voluntary return arrangements for survivors of all genders and ages in the UK and reviewing good practice examples from different locations.

• Mapping available reintegration services and how survivors can access them in Albania, Brazil, China, India and Pakistan (supported by the IOM offices in each country).

• Providing training and guidance to support providers in the UK on risk assessments and risk management plans, clear and consistent referral processes, and other areas where support is required.

The project has a small Advisory Group providing advice and guidance. It is made up of three members: Dr Sian Oram from Kings College London (Principal Investigator for the Modern Slavery Core Outcome Set, MSCOS), Robyn Phillips, Director of Operations at the Human Trafficking Foundation, and Dr Andrea Nicholson, Rights Lab Associate Professor in Politics and International Relations, University of Nottingham.

How You Can Get Involved

This project is open to a wide range of support providers who can participate and share their experiences and highlight any good practice/key challenges through workshops, surveys and focus groups. Based on this research, IOM will then provide trainings and guidance on the identified areas of need and provide detailed information on reintegration services available in Albania, Brazil, China, India and Pakistan.

We would like to hear from practitioners who have experience of return and reintegration of trafficking survivors.

For further information please contact Laura Schack, Project Coordinator, IOM UK lschack@iom.int .