Experts gather to tackle trafficking in Scotland

Tuesday 7 May 2019

Anti-trafficking experts gathered in Edinburgh today (Tuesday 7 May 2019) for the launch of the Consortium for Anti-Trafficking Research in Scotland (CATRiS).

The event, hosted by the Scottish Government and organised by the Third Generation Project, a human rights think tank based at the University of St Andrews, brought together some of the UK’s foremost scholars and practitioners on the trafficking of persons, wildlife and drugs inside and outside the UK.

Professor Ali Watson, Managing Director of the Third Generation Project, said: “In light of surges in human trafficking and labour exploitation referrals to Police Scotland in the wake of Brexit, CATRiS presents the opportunity to present a united front against what is an increasingly dire human rights crisis facing Scotland.”

Dr Chris Lusk, Executive Director of CATRiS, said: “We started CATRiS from our preliminary observation that those on the frontline felt siloed and disconnected from researchers and policymakers. After our first meeting as a steering committee, one researcher on the trafficking of children in Scotland said he had ‘waited ten years for an initiative like this’.”

Bennett Collins, Executive Director of the Third Generation Project, said: “So often human rights issues are considered in isolation, when the reality is that they may be connected. We never fully make these connections, because we don’t see the full picture. To do that we have to work collaboratively.”


Issued by the University of St Andrews Communications Office.

Category Public interest stories

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