Kevin Hyland
Kevin Hyland, an Irish/British national, has focused for 15 years on efforts to end human trafficking. A current focus links long experience working with religious communities and civil society on trafficking to the G20 Interfaith Forum. During a 30-year policing career, he specialized in investigating serious organized crime, including homicide, sexual offences, gun crime, and corruption. He headed London’s internationally recognized Human Trafficking Unit, that successfully prosecuted numerous international crime groups, including human traffickers, operating across many nations, including India, Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Europe. In 2014 he was appointed the UK’s first Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and in 2015 was awarded an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II for his work in policing and fighting human trafficking. He is an Honorary Professor at St. Mary’s University, London and has advised governments, businesses, law enforcement, and NGOs from across the world in developing human trafficking legislation, strategies, policies, and training. An advisor to the Santa Marta Group, Hyland is also the chair of Arise, a global human trafficking organisation, and a trustee to both Europe’s largest Homeless Charity, The Passage and Rahab, that supports trafficked and exploited women and girls in London.