Half of the money will be split between tackling forced labor among women migrant workers from South Asia and cracking down on human trafficking from Nigeria, often of women and girls into sex slavery, said Britain’s foreign aid department (DFID).

The rest will go to the U.S.-based Global Fund to End Modern Slavery, a public-private partnership seeking $1.5bn to combat the crime globally by targeting problem sectors from the garment industry to fisheries and construction.

By working with law enforcement, civil society and businesses, as well as providing information, skills and job opportunities to vulnerable people — mostly women — DFID said the money would help save more than 500,000 people from slavery.

“In the world we live in, it is as easy to traffic people as drugs or guns — and not enough is being done to tackle it,” said Penny Mordaunt, Britain’s international development minister.

Britain is considered a leader in global efforts to combat slavery, and passed the Modern Slavery Act in 2015 to crack down on traffickers, force businesses to check their supply chains for forced labor, and protect people at risk of being enslaved.

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