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‘I never expected this in the UK’: modern slavery expert receives death threat
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2024
110 points (98.2% liked)
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I never thought [my work] would bring so much trouble – to the extent that somebody would threaten me and my family. I would have expected to receive this letter if I was in Africa, back in my home country [Ivory Coast], but not in the UK.
Hang on hang on hang on. Not to say this isn't disgusting. But an expert in modern slavery is surprised to receive death threats? It seems like this is one of the people that should be least surprised to receive them.
Sounds more like he was simply naive in his opinion of the UK.
My (somewhat speculative) impression is that the shock that he expresses about receiving the letter isn't just at the letter itself, but at a legal system that is letting this happen to the extent that it happens at all. By that, I mean that the rule of law is most powerful when it's acting preventatively — when people are deterred from breaking laws before they break them.
The people who sent the death threats believed they could intimidate without fear of reprisal from the law, and it seems they were right. I can imagine how this might be jarring to someone working to fight modern slavery, where the law is one of the tools used against employers who are exploiting workers in this manner.
Just a guess.
But an expert in modern slavery raised in the Ivory Coast. Dose not need to be an expert in UK attitude s towards slavery.
Hopefully the police actually do something here to protect him. Unlike what they didn't do with Abraham Badru
I mean you would have fully known that being a union isnt really sunshine and rainbows is it?