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Programme
Welcome
Jasmine O’Connor, CEO Anti-Slavery International
Host
Julie Etchingham, ITV news at 10
Talks
Sian Lea, Business and Human Rights Manager
Aisosa Henkoma, Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP) Consultant
Jewher Ilham, Forced Labor Project Coordinator
Questions and Answers
Sian Lea
Aisosa Henkoma
Jewher Ilham
Jasmine O’Connor
Final thanks
Jasmine O’Connor, CEO
Speakers
Jasmine O’Connor, CEO, Anti-Slavery International
Jasmine O’Connor is the CEO of Anti-Slavery International. Anti-Slavery International is the world’s oldest human rights organisation, working to end slavery across the world in all its forms, including forced labour, debt bondage, human trafficking, descent-based slavery, worst forms of child labour and forced marriage.
Jasmine has extensive leadership experience in international human rights work, leading campaigns that combine practical grassroots programmes with policy change initiatives at multiple levels. Prior to joining Anti-Slavery she worked at ADD International (Action on Disability and Development), where she lead disability rights programmes across five countries in Asia and Africa. She also held senior positions at equal rights campaigning group Stonewall, Article 19, Cord, Refugee Action and Care International, as well as advisory positions with the UK Department of International Development and the UK Foreign Office.
In 2016 she was awarded an OBE for services to international human rights and development.
Sian Lea, Business and Human Rights Manager, Anti-Slavery International
Sian Lea is the Business and Human Rights Manager at Anti-Slavery International heading up the responsible business team. She is responsible for advocating for better business practice through legislative shifts at UK and EU levels and supporting businesses in their own efforts. Sian has specific experience working closely with businesses to address risks of modern slavery, and local and national policymakers to advocate for meaningful change. Prior to joining Anti-Slavery International, she was the Managing Director of Shiva Foundation, a corporate foundation tackling modern slavery, she managed the humanitarian education team at the British Red Cross and supporting access-to-justice projects at Legal Support for Children and Women in Cambodia.
Aisosa Henkoma, Lived Experience Advisory Panel
Aisosa draws on his own personal experience of child criminal exploitation to provide expertise and guidance to a range of organisations in their Anti-Trafficking work.
As a Lived Experience Advisory Panel (LEAP) Consultant with the Human Trafficking Foundation, Aisosa designs and presents impactful modern slavery training and awareness sessions to improve the response of modern slavery first responders. He collaborates with statutory agencies, NGOs and other relevant bodies to bring lived experience into learning to help improve understanding, attitudes and how services are delivered. Working alongside the organisation Dignifi, Aisosa has trained over 250 Youth Offending Team (YOT) staff in trauma informed approaches when working with children and young people.
Aisosa regularly provides input into modern slavery guidance, policy and research. He helps identify the gaps, challenges, and opportunities for improved response to child criminal exploitation.
Some of the projects Sosa has supported include Birmingham City Council’s Pre-NRM Casework Toolkit and the Human Trafficking Foundation’s ‘Child Criminal Exploitation and the Need for Consistency’ 2022 report.
Aisosa has dedicated significant time to a series of direct engagement, prevention and intervention projects aimed at protecting children and young people from involvement in crime and criminal exploitation. His work with organisations, including Unique Talent CIC, make a genuine difference to children and young people’s lives through bespoke support and mentoring.
Aisosa has led on child criminal exploitation (CCE) discussion sessions with children and young people in schools and youth clubs.
He has supported in-person Q&A sessions for policing including the Metropolitan Police. Aisosa has delivered training sessions for City of London and Thames Valley Police as part of their joint PIP2 Investigative Supervisor/Manager Development Programme.
Aisosa has recently delivered an online Q&A session for His Majesties Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) as part of their 2023 ‘Think Child’ campaign. This has a particular focus on the heightened risk of exploitation some children face during school holidays.
Julie Etchingham
A graduate from Newnham College at the University of Cambridge, Julie is currently presenting ITV news at 10, and has previous experience working for the BBC and Sky News.
She is known for chairing televised leaders’ debates ahead of UK general elections and the Brexit referendum, and was the first woman to host a UK election night programme.
She has covered many of major news stories of recent years, including the Asian Tsunami and Japanese Earthquake, the Royal Wedding and the election of Barack Obama. She has interviewed the past four Prime Ministers, as well as Hillary Clinton, Condoleeza Rice and Aung San Suu Kyi. She was also the first woman to win the Royal Television Society Presenter of the Year award.
Julie is passionate about raising awareness of human trafficking and bringing to light the women’s personal stories through her work in the media. She also moderates conferences on human trafficking in the UK and abroad. Her coverage of modern slavery issues includes “Britain’s Secret Slaves”, a documentary on slavery in Britain, a series of special reports on trafficking in Nigeria, and a harrowing story of Vietnamese girls trafficked into sexual exploitation to China, France and Britain .
Jewher Ilham, Forced Labor Project Coofinator, Worker Rights Consortium
Jewher Ilham is an author of two books and an advocate for the Uyghur community and for her imprisoned father, Uyghur economist Ilham Tohti.
Jewher now works at the Worker Rights Consortium as Forced Labor Project Coordinator and serves as a spokesperson for the Coalition to End Uyghur Forced Labour. She is a co-producer and the protagonist for the award-winning documentary film All Static and Noise (May 2023) about the plight of Uyghurs.