Cool Earth believes that a child, young person or adult should never experience abuse of any kind. We are committed to practice in a way that protects them.
This document sets out our policy and procedures relating to safeguarding. If you have any concerns or would like to discuss our policy. please contact us.
The aim of this policy is to keep children and vulnerable adults safe by providing a framework to ensure a safe environment for them, whilst contributing to the prevention of harm or abuse and the protection of those individuals who are identified as suffering or likely to suffer harm from any such risk to their safety, health or well-being, whether at work, at home or in the wider community.
This policy applies to all staff, including senior managers and the board of trustees, paid staff, volunteers, interns, or anyone working on behalf or in the name of Cool Earth.
Cool Earth believes that a child, young person or adult should never experience abuse of any kind. We have a responsibility to promote the welfare of all children, young people and adults and to keep them safe. We are committed to practice in a way that protects them.
This policy has been drawn up on the basis of law and guidance, namely:
Cool Earth will ensure that:
Designated Safeguarding Officer: Hannah Peck – [email protected]
Director: Matthew Owen – [email protected]
Trustee Lead: Mark Ellingham
If an individual is alerted to concerns or receives an allegation of abuse regarding another individual working for or with Cool Earth they should report this immediately to the designated member of staff. They should not investigate concerns or allegations of abuse, but should report them immediately to the designated member of staff.
Abuse may be a single incident or something that occurs over a long period of time. It can take many forms including, but not limited to:
Modern Slavery
Different countries use different legal terminologies, but “modern slavery” includes the crimes of human trafficking, slavery and slavery-like practices such as servitude, forced labour, forced or servile marriage, the sale and exploitation of children, and debt bondage.
Although that still exists, modern slavery is less about people owning other people but more about being exploited and completely controlled by someone else, without being able to leave:
Modern slavery can affect people of any age, gender or race. However, most commonly, slavery affects people and communities who are vulnerable to being taken advantage of.
It can be someone living in poverty and having no real prospects for a decent job, who will accept a good sounding offer of a job abroad that turns out something else than what was promised.
It can be someone from a community heavily discriminated against, such as Dalits in India, who will have to borrow money for medical treatment from a wealthy farmer, and will fall into debt bondage for decades with no hope of help from corrupted authorities.
Or it might be a young girl who happens to live in a society where early marriage is completely acceptable, who will have no choice over marrying an older man.
Or it might be someone who happens to be born to a mother coming from a ‘slave’ cast, literally owned by their masters from the day they are born.
Slavery is also more likely to occur where the rule of law is weaker and corruption is rife. It can also happen to groups of people who are not protected by the law, for example, migrants whose visa status is irregular are easy to blackmail with deportation.
Many people think that slavery happens only overseas, in developing countries. In fact, no country is free from modern slavery, even Britain. The Government estimates that there are tens of thousands of people in modern slavery in the UK.
If an individual is informed by a child or vulnerable adult about possible abuse or receives a disclosure of issues which indicated potential abuse, they should:
The designated member of staff will contact the relevant authority to establish whether the case requires further investigation and at what level.
All individuals covered by this policy must be mindful, and remain mindful, of the importance of ensuring that confidentiality is, where possible, maintained for all concerned. Information should be handled and disseminated on a need to know basis only.