Ishaan delivers two talks at London Climate Action Week

In honour of the Mayor of London’s ‘Climate Action Week’ (Monday 29 June to Tuesday 7 July), a week-long United Nations London Sustainable Development Goals Summit, showcasing businesses, activists and social change-makers who are paving the way for our Sustainable Future was held (virtually). These were a series of sessions where people showcased action they have taken; we can take and solutions we must adopt to make a difference.
 
Ishaan (Lower Sixth) was invited to speak at the Summit about efforts in tackling modern slavery and human trafficking. He focused on ‘No Poverty’ and ‘Climate Action’.

He explored the links between poverty and human trafficking, highlighting that: “traffickers will prey on vulnerability and often, that is economic vulnerability… Especially during this COVID-19 crisis, we can see that people are becoming increasingly economically vulnerable and traffickers are taking advantage of this.”

In his second talk, he discussed that the links between poverty and human trafficking are not just occurring in faraway communities and countries, but also here in the UK: “27% of victims referred to the UK Modern Slavery Helpline in 2019 were UK nationals themselves”.
 
Throughout the week, Ishaan provided the audience with four calls to action that they can take to tackle both human trafficking and climate change today:

1. Educate yourself and raise awareness about these two issues and the links between them.
2. Write to your local councillors to adopt a robust strategy to tackle modern slavery and pollution on a local level.
3. Put pressure on businesses and companies to become more sustainable. This involves urging them to become eco-friendlier and also making sure that workers in the supply chains are treated and paid fairly. 
4. Buy second hand clothing or even share, exchange and borrow clothes with friends and family. In doing so, not only are you reducing your carbon footprint, but you are also playing a part in countering the fast fashion industry. 

Ishaan concluded his last talk by urging young people across the globe to take action on these very important issues. He said: “Do not be afraid to speak out if you see something that needs to be changed.”

The School is very proud of Ishaan!