We’re sending back far too many victims of modern slavery to unsafe countries. Change is overdue

• Ministers ‘failing to protect’ people trafficked to UK as modern slaves

Modern slavery is a violation of human rights, affecting millions of men, women and children across the world and in the UK. People who are vulnerable due to circumstances of poverty, instability or forced migration are taken advantage of and exploited in situations of unfree labour, trafficking and abuse. Women and girls fleeing war are particularly at risk and I am concerned about the possibility of trafficking for migrants as the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine unfolds.

Given all of this, you might expect that the UK government and the Home Office were doing all they could to help victims of modern slavery in Britain. You would be wrong.

Dame Sara Thornton is the government’s independent anti-slavery commissioner

This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.