The Troubling Influence and Impact of the UK’s Modern Slavery Agenda on Caribbean Anti-Trafficking Law and Practice

Although the England and Wales Modern Slavery Act (MSA) has been heralded a landmark statute with the potential to influence anti-trafficking developments globally, its impact on the Commonwealth Caribbean has not been as profound or positive as one might have imagined, notwithstanding the longstanding relationship between the UK and the Caribbean. This article explains that the UK’s framing of exploitation as ‘modern slavery’ does not sit well with the Caribbean, whose history is characterised by the transatlantic slave trade and slavery. It contends that, instead, it is the United States Trafficking Victims Protection Act that has had a more significant and enduring impact on Caribbean anti-trafficking law and practice, in part due to its imperialist and exceptionalist nature. That said, there are some areas where Caribbean anti-trafficking legislation and the MSA overlap. Through an examination of UK case law, this article demonstrates that the narrow interpretation of the non-punishment provision adopted by British courts has had a tangible, and, indeed, negative impact on Caribbean victims of trafficking. It concludes by cautioning that transplantation of the British ‘modern slavery’ agenda to the Caribbean must necessarily be approached with utmost caution.