There are 122,000 people in slavery in the UK today. Christians must act

Economic pressures and increasingly hostile immigration policies mean the most vulnerable are more at risk of being trafficked than ever. This Anti-Slavery Week, the Christian community must renew their commitment to standing up for the least and the lost, says Ben Ryan

This week is Anti-Slavery Week; the annual awareness campaign about the blight of modern slavery and human trafficking. This year, there are higher stakes than ever, with a combination of economic and social factors make it a period of heightened risk for those vulnerable to trafficking and slavery.

According to the Global Slavery Index, the UK has around 122,000 potential victims of slavery. Numbers of such size can be hard to grasp intellectually – but this is equivalent to slightly more than the population of Gloucester currently living in slavery here in the UK.