Last Tuesday, SI Tenby programme action officer Dr. Anne Kelly, assisted by SI Swansea representative Dr. Anthea Symonds and SI Tenby press officer Lindsay Oeppen, was delighted to be able to showcase SI Tenby’s on-going programme to raise awareness of modern slavery with a stall in the Dyfed Powys Police exhibition tent at the Pembrokeshire County Show.

This was at the kind invitation of Michael Smith, regional community cohesion co-ordinator for Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire, with specific responsibility for modern slavery and hate crime.

Dr. Kelly, who is also the representative for SI Wales South on the Dyfed Powys Police Forum for Modern Slavery, has been coordinating SI Tenby’s project on human trafficking and modern slavery since 2007. Tenby SI’s programme to combat modern day slavery and trafficking began with a film premier of ‘Amazing Grace’ to raise awareness of the fact, that despite it being the bi -centenary of the abolition of the Slave Trade Act, 1807, the heinous crime persists. New research estimates there are between 10 and 13 thousand potential victims of slavery in the UK, whilst there is an estimated 20 to 30 million slaves across the world today. Modern slavery is an international crime which encompasses slavery, human trafficking, forced labour and domestic servitude. Slavery is still as brutal and inhuman today as it was in history. It affects the lives of millions of people across the world.

This was the first day of the County Show and large numbers visited the Dyfed Powys Police Exhibition ‘Keeping Pembrokeshire Safe,’ allowing Dr. Kelly and her team the opportunity to engage with a wide cross-section of visitors, offer information about human trafficking, and discuss ways to support the nationwide campaign to end modern slavery.

Dr. Kelly would like to thank Pembrokeshire County Council representatives Michael Smith, Sinead Henehan and Jenny Hart for helping to make SI Tenby’s contribution to the police display at the 2016 Pembrokeshire County Show such a success. Many thanks are also extended to Dyfed Powys Police for their warm hospitality.

Please visit http://sigbi.tenby for more information about SI Tenby’s campaign to raise awareness of modern slavery.