Amanda Read
- National Vulnerability Lead
- UK Border Force
Amanda Read is the UK Border Force National lead for Safeguarding and Modern Slavery. She heads up a network of over 600 specialist officers across near and far UK borders and ensures that these experts and the wider cadre of frontline staff are equipped to protect the vulnerable and prevent those perpetrators who may seek to exploit them. This remit can range from shaping policy; providing operational advice; leading operational intensifications and innovative campaigns; engagement with stakeholders and collaborating with wider law enforcement partners. She has over 30 years operational experience at ports across the UK, as Airport Duty Manager at Heathrow Airport, working within the Immigration detention estate and postings overseas. She received a Member of the British Empire for her services to keeping children safe.
Sessions
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Trends in Irregular and Mass Migration and THB
According to UNHCR figures by May 2024, more than 120 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of persecution, conflict, violence or human rights violations. This includes 43.4 million refugees, 63.3 million internally displaced people, 6.9 million asylum seekers and 5.8 million people in need of international protection.
But it is not just conflict and persecution that drives migration. Economic and educational opportunities are also major drivers and, in the years to come, climate change will play an increasing role in setting people on the move. Human traffickers exploit these people at their most vulnerable to extort money and drive migrants into slave labour and the sex trade.
Whether it is conflicts, natural disasters or economics, the flow of migrants from poor southern countries to rich northern ones is probably only going to increase.
So, what are current trends in migration and what further can be done to tackle those bad actors that are ready to exploit these people when they are at their most vulnerable.