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Introduction
Since 2000, significant progress has been made against trafficking
in human beings, most notably in relation to awareness raising and
through the introduction of domestic legislation which makes trafficking
for both sexual exploitation and labour exploitation criminal offences
with a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison (in the Sexual Offences
Act 2003 and the Asylum and Immigration Act 2004, respectively).
Consequently the UK has ratified the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress
and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children,
supplementing the UN Convention against Transnational Organized
Crime.1
The Consultative Group on Trafficking, established at the end of
2005 and jointly chaired by the Under Secretary of State for the
Home Office and the Solicitor General, is a good forum for information
sharing. It also provides the opportunity to build on other positive
examples of inter-agency co-operation in relation to trafficking,
such as Counter Trafficking Steering Group and the liaison that
took place in West Sussex in the late 1990s between social services,
police and immigration.
Anti-Slavery International welcomes the consultation process on
the proposals for a UK Action Plan on trafficking in human beings
as such a plan provides the opportunity to outline a comprehensive
response to the problem of trafficking in human beings with concrete
activities and outcomes which will be achieved within a specific
timeframe.
Q1 Trafficking is not just organised immigration crime 2
There is a structural weakness throughout the plan in that there
is an assumption that all trafficking can be tackled as an organised
immigration crime. This is not the case as people are trafficked
through regular migration channels. For example, cases of nurses,
agricultural workers and migrant domestic workers have all been
documented in which the individuals entered with the correct visas,
but were then subjected to forced labour, most commonly through
the removal of their documents and/or debt bondage. Similarly, there
are many trafficked people who come from EU states or have EU passports
(e.g. Lithuanians in sexual exploitation, Victoria Climbie, or indeed
UK nationals).
Responses to trafficking must be through a broader prism than organised
immigration crime otherwise many trafficked people will not be identified
and assisted. A framework that focuses on the exploitative outcomes
of trafficking (which is the purpose of trafficking, as defined
in Article 3 of the Palermo Protocol) would be more comprehensive
and effective as it would incorporate all aspects of trafficking,
regardless of whether they are the result of organised immigration
crime, internal trafficking or criminal activities of individual
traffickers.
Q2+Q3+Q4 Trafficking for forced labour
There is a lack of good quality information on trafficking for
labour exploitation in the UK. One of the aims of the plan is to
"increase our knowledge and understanding of trafficking, in
particular trafficking for the purposes of labour exploitation.
Despite correctly identifying this information gap, there is no
commitment to undertake research in this area (organised immigration
crime and the off street prostitution market are the only research
areas foreseen by the consultation paper).
However, the available information indicates that this is a significant
problem in various industries. ECPAT UK's report Cause for Concern?
London Social Services and child trafficking (2004), documents
the details of 35 cases of child trafficking in 17 London boroughs.
Approximately half of these children were trafficked for domestic
work, benefit fraud, restaurant work and involvement in illegal
activities.
A report prepared by COMPAS and the TUC, Forced Labour and Migration
in the UK (2005), clearly indicates that forced labour of migrant
workers, using threats, coercion and debt bondage, takes place in
agriculture, catering, building, packing and processing and other
industries.
Research carried out by Anti-Slavery International in 2005-06,
documented more than two dozen cases of individuals who were victims
of trafficking for forced labour in the UK. In addition to this,
a recently published article referring to an audit into gangmasters
supplying casual labour for the food and farming industry, revealed
a significant number of cases involving bonded or forced labour.
Specific research should be undertaken as part of the Action Plan
on trafficking for labour exploitation and child trafficking.
There also appears to be much less engagement on trafficking for
labour exploitation than there is on trafficking for sexual exploitation,
particularly in terms of awareness and media coverage of the problem.
While both trafficking offences came into force in 2004, there have
been 14 successful convictions for trafficking for sexual exploitation,
but no cases have been brought in relation to trafficking for labour
exploitation.
The very limited knowledge about the scope of trafficking reflects
the lack of co-ordinated national data collection. There is a need
for centralised and systematic data collection and analysis that
would ensure the collection of information from all relevant actors
working in the area of people trafficking and the exploitation of
migrant workers. This is the practice in many other EU countries
and the annual report of the Dutch National Rapporteur on Trafficking
in Human Beings would be a good model for the UK to adopt.3
Q5 Prevention needs to be carried out at several levels, embedded
in a comprehensive co-operative framework
Information provision and awareness raising are important short-term
and primary prevention methods, particularly in the countries of
origin of (potential) trafficked people.
Secondary and tertiary levels of prevention are especially relevant
for the destination countries from a medium and long-term perspective.
Such prevention measures need to include a referral mechanism that
provides support and assistance measures and helps to prevent re-trafficking.
It is also essential that awareness raising initiatives are accompanied
by programmes that provide information on regular migration opportunities
and what migrant workers' rights and responsibilities are
when they are in the UK. Information cards with basic information
and numbers for assistance could be distributed to potential migrants.
Programmes which offer greater protection of migrants' rights and
more opportunities for regular migration could reduce the likelihood
of people resorting to traffickers.
Prevention measures which only focus on publicising prosecutions
of traffickers and highlighting the risks of trafficking are not
likely to have a significant impact as there will always be people
who know and understand the risks, but are willing to take a chance
or feel they have no alternative.
Prevention of trafficking must not be confused with measures to
combat smuggling and illegal immigration in general. The consultation
paper highlights projects to prevent trafficking through awareness
raising initiatives in Bangladesh, India, Afghanistan, Nepal and
Pakistan (page nine). This is worrying given the fact that these
countries are not considered to be the major source countries for
trafficking to the UK at present. On the other hand, there is no
mention of African countries as countries of origin despite the
fact there have been a number of cases of trafficking of women from
countries such as Nigeria and Cameroon as well as child trafficking.
There are also allegations that Africans have been trafficked for
labour exploitation.
Providing alternatives to individuals, including in country of
origin, should be a key part of any programme to prevent trafficking.
There should be specific policies to encourage the regular migration
of unskilled labour and the new points based immigration scheme
should be reviewed specifically to assess its possible impact on
trafficking, particularly measures which could increase the vulnerability
of would-be migrants.
Migrant workers should be entitled to the protections outlined
in the 1990 United Nations Convention on the Protection of the
Rights of All Migrant workers and their Families and should
be informed of their rights and how to access support in the country
of destination. These are key issues with respect to prevention
of trafficking for labour exploitation.
Q7
There is a definitional deficiency in this question. It is necessary
to clearly define what form of demand is to be tackled. There is
the demand for sexual services that is in some instances met through
the trafficking of women and children. There is also a demand for
cheap labour (and cheap goods in the second instance), which creates
demand for vulnerable and exploitable labour force that in some
instances is met through trafficking.
Awareness raising campaigns among clients of prostitutes which
inform them about the human rights violations involved in trafficking
and encourages them to help women who have been forced into prostitution
have been carried out in several countries, including Germany and
Switzerland. The evaluation of these initiatives has shown that
campaigns that are based on the concerns and questions of the (potential)
clients (for example using hotlines for clients of prostitutes and
men seeking general information) can be are successful in conveying
this message and providing assistance, as the clients of prostitutes
are one of the few groups that are in direct contact with trafficked
people.
Addressing the demand for cheap and unprotected labour is pivotal
in tackling the trafficking of people for labour exploitation. Initiatives
which increase opportunities for regular labour migration and the
enforcement of labour standards need to be implemented.
In enforcing labour standards the Government should ensure the
promotion of the rights of all workers irrespective of whether they
are indigenous, regular or irregular migrant workers. In creating
migration opportunities it is important that the structure does
not exclude certain categories of migrant, limit their rights or
make them vulnerable to exploitation by creating a dependence of
workers on their employers (e.g. through visa and work permits tied
to one employer).
Q8
The Action Plan indicates an intention to "do some work on
scoping the issue of child trafficking into the UK" and notes
that the available evidence shows that "there is little, if
any, demand for trafficked minors for the purposes of prostitution".
This assessment contradicts the available evidence. Just under
half of the 35 cases of child trafficking identified in 17 London
boroughs in ECPAT UK's 2004 research were trafficked for sexual
exploitation. Small numbers of minors have also been identified
by the police and indeed one of the successful prosecutions using
the new trafficking for sexual exploitation related to a man who
had trafficked a minor into prostitution in the UK.
Q9
Law enforcement has, to date, focused on trafficking for sexual
exploitation, as reflected in the fact that there have been no prosecutions
for trafficking for labour exploitation.
The new offence of knowingly employing an illegal migrant worker
seems to be aimed at immigration rather than trafficking. If employers
are seeking to exploit trafficked or irregular migrants they are
likely to be breaking a series of other laws (minimum wage, health
and safety regulations, etc.) and this offence is unlikely to deter
them, particularly given the ineffective nature of existing legislation
which compels employers to check that an individual has a right
to work in the UK.
A review as to why legislation has not been used to prosecute individuals
for trafficking for labour exploitation should be carried out in
order identify the reasons and remedy this problem.
Q10+11
Successful prosecution in relation to trafficking offences should
be a performance indictor for law enforcement. Awareness-raising
and training initiatives should highlight the exploitation outcomes
of trafficking and should make a clear distinction between trafficking
and human smuggling. Specific attention should be given to awareness-raising
among the immigration service with respect to the identification
and treatment of trafficked persons.
Focusing solely on organised immigration crime in relation to trafficking
can have a negative impact on anti-trafficking initiatives by:
- Criminalising those involved in immigration offences rather
than punishing traffickers. For example, through the immediate
deportation or detention of persons that "do not state that
they were trafficked" without allowing time for proper identification
etc.)
- Failing to identify trafficked people who are EU-nationals.
For example, by "releasing" women from EU states after
raids without ensuring proper identification and referral to assistance.
- Failing to identify trafficking cases that do not constitute
"organised crime".
Q12 Services for persons trafficked for labour exploitation
There is a complete absence of protection and support facilities
available to people trafficked for labour exploitation. The title
of the Citizens Advice Bureau report on the exploitation of migrant
workers, Nowhere to turn, reflects the lack of support services
for people trafficked for labour exploitation. The need to address
support provisions are dealt with in more detail below.
Despite the fact that trafficking for labour exploitation and trafficking
for sexual exploitation are seen as equally grave offences in legislative
terms, the treatment of the victim differs greatly depending on
the type of exploitation they have been subjected to. Those trafficked
into sexual exploitation are considered victims and provided with
advice, support and assistance, whereas those trafficked into labour
exploitation are seen as immigrants who should be removed immediately.
In this context, Anti-Slavery International is very concerned at
the proposal in the plan to use the Joint Workplace Enforcement
Pilot to identify the exploitation of illegal migrant labour and
"then deliver effective enforcement action." Such action
is not in the interests of the migrant or the police and runs contrary
to existing experience and international standards on how to effectively
counter trafficking.
The Gangmasters (Licensing) Act 2004, which establishes
a system for registering labour providers in the agricultural, shellfish
gathering and associated packing and processing sectors, should
help to reduce exploitation and forced labour in these industries.
The first licences are due to be issued in April 2006. Although
the original scheme of businesses covered by the Act has been broadened,
it is necessary to consider extending the scheme to industries with
similar (mal)practices in place, such as hospitality, construction
etc.
The introduction of a points based immigration system with its
focus on skilled migrants, does appear likely to increase the risks
of trafficking as the opportunities for regular migration are more
limited. For example, if we consider the implications for migrant
domestic workers. The NGO Kalayaan, which works with migrant domestic
workers found that, between 2001 and July 2003, 49 per cent of domestic
workers registered with the NGO had their documents taken by their
employers (511 people). The removal of documents and debt bondage
are key mechanisms by which employers coerce people to continue
working against their will.
Under the new rules migrant domestic workers will only be given
six month visas and they will be tied to one employer. This means
they will not be able to leave their employers even if they are
abusive, and reverses changes to the current practice which had
removed the link between the granting of a work permit and a requirement
to stay with a single employer in the UK (which has internationally
been referred to as an example of a good practice).This proposal
constitutes a considerable step backwards and is likely to encourage
exploitation and trafficking.
Migrant workers should be entitled to the protections outlined
in the 1990 United Nations Convention on the Protection of the
Rights of All Migrant workers and their Families and should
be informed of their rights and how to access support in the country
of destination.
Services for persons trafficked for sexual exploitation
The consultation document notes that the Government is committed
to looking at criteria, capacity and location of existing support
services support services and will select a provider for the April
2006 - March 2008 period.
This is welcome as between March 2003 and January 2005, the Poppy
Project had 411 referrals - some 140 a year, many of whom were not
given full access to the project because they didn't meet the criteria
or because it was full (in 2004 they turned away over 30 women who
otherwise met the criteria for entry into the project).
We would like to see specific commitments in the action plan to
remove the current requirement that women have to have been prostituted
in the UK in the last 30 days. This requirement does not reflect
the reality of the trafficking environment. Trafficked women who
have been or are about to be subjected to any form of sexual exploitation
should be allowed access to support and assistance.
There is a need for additional places for the existing project,
but it is absolutely essential that specialised accommodation and
assistance should be available to men, women or children trafficked
into labour as well as sexual exploitation. Furthermore, there is
an urgent need to raise awareness among the Social Services in relation
to the identification and referral of trafficked persons and about
the basic precautions that need to be taken in cases of child trafficking.
We support the proposal to build in outreach and long term support
for trafficked people into the plan (creation of a national referral
mechanism). This should include supporting and accompanying trafficked
people throughout the judicial process and assisting them in getting
compensation. This currently does not happen, probably due to the
overlap between criminal and immigration areas of law and the difficulty
of following up cases when the individuals do not have regularised
immigration status.
Anti-Slavery International is also concerned that procedures for
providing trafficked people with long term protection do not seem
to be working effectively. At the end of 2004, none of the trafficked
people assisted by the Poppy Project who had been given a final
decision were granted refugee status or humanitarian protection
on their initial application, but six of the 11 who have had final
decisions obtained protection on appeal.
Q15
The Government has raised concerns around reflection periods and
residency permits. So far, there is no evidence from countries like
Netherlands and Belgium, that have been operating reflection periods
for several years, to suggest that they would act as "pull"
factor to the UK. Twenty five European countries have signed the
Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human
Beings, including: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Georgia,
Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Moldova, Netherlands, Norway,
Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Sweden and Ukraine,
hence committing themselves to provide all identified trafficked
persons with a minimum reflection period of 30 days (there are countries,
such as Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands that offer a longer reflection
period to trafficked persons).
Furthermore, only the UK, Ireland and Denmark have not signed up
to the EU Directive which sets out the criteria for issuing a residence
permit to victims of trafficking and also offers them a reflection
period.
The evidence from other countries is that such systems are effective.
Officials in Italy reported that issuing residence permits on the
basis of risk and not making them conditional on co-operation in
a prosecution, has assisted in securing convictions of traffickers.
In the five years to June 2001, over 7,500 individuals were investigated,
charged or sentenced for trafficking related offences. The UK's
experience is not dissimilar as police have been assisted in 11
court cases by trafficked people supported by the Poppy Project.
Q16+17
Proper identification of victims and the provision of adequate assistance
and protection are crucial in order to prevent re-trafficking and
enable their sustainable integration or re-integration.
Identification is a process that takes time. As soon as the competent
authorities consider that there are reasonable grounds to believe
that a person is trafficked, they should not remove the person from
the territory of the receiving states. It is also essential that
they are then given access to assistance and support. Furthermore,
the identification process needs to be carried out independently
of criminal proceedings.
A pro-active approach by the relevant bodies (police, NGOs, social
services etc.) in carrying out the identification is of utmost importance.
It is unlikely that a trafficked person would identify herself or
himself as a victim for various reasons (not knowing that they have
been trafficked, fear, and mistrust of the authorities, etc.). Repeatedly,
victims have not been referred to specialized services or offered
assistance because they have not stated that they had been trafficked.
Failure to identify and refer victims to assistance is one of the
contributory factors to re-trafficking.
Despite the development of the Home Office Toolkit and improved
awareness of trafficking amongst officials, NGOs and the general
public, the identification and protection procedures are still inadequate
for those adults and children trafficked into sexual exploitation
and non-existent for those trafficked into labour exploitation.
This was highlighted when a massage parlour was raided in Birmingham
on 29 September 2005 and the police arrested 19 women. Those with
irregular immigration status were sent to Yarlswood detention centre
pending deportation, but two were later identified as trafficked
people and admitted to the Poppy project. Those women with EU passports
were released immediately after the raid, but did not have access
to any specialised assistance or advice.
The identification of trafficked people and their referral for
support is the responsibility of all agencies and individuals. It
cannot be assumed that trafficked people will simply identify themselves
as such to the authorities. A representative from a support provider
should interview people who may have been trafficked and provide
them with information separately from the police, as happens in
Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Czech Republic, etc.
Identification and referral mechanisms could be improved through
further training. For example, Anti-Slavery International and the
Police Academy in the Netherlands have developed a training manual
for the Identification and Assistance of Trafficked Persons.
Granting of a reflection period to trafficked people is essential
as it allows time for the individual to adjust and make informed
decisions, but also because it provides the opportunity to carry
out a thorough risk-assessment before returning victims to their
countries of origin. Risk assessment should consider a number of
factors, including the risk of reprisal from the traffickers against
the individual or their families; social exclusion and discrimination;
the involvement of family members in the trafficking of the person
(this is particularly important when returning unaccompanied minors
to their families); and the availability of adequate support services
in the country of origin. Furthermore, every trafficked person who
is returned should be referred to a local support organisations
or, if they prefer given contacts details for such an organisation.
Q18
Research into trafficking for labour exploitation is required as
is the provision of specialised support and assistance. The needs
of people trafficked for labour exploitation have to be properly
assessed taking into account the particular circumstances of the
individual involved, including whether they have been trafficked
into isolated settings (e.g. care workers, domestic workers), group
settings (e.g. agriculture, construction) or semi-isolated settings
(e.g. cleaning outside of regular office hours). Their circumstances
will be of key importance in determining effective mechanisms for
identification and outreach.
Other countries have already started to identify the needs of people
trafficked into labour exploitation and indicate that they have
a broader set of needs because of the variety of different settings
in which they find themselves.
The Action Plan does need to directly address the Council of
Europe Convention on trafficking
The Council of Europe Convention provides a comprehensive framework
for safeguarding the human rights of trafficked people based on
current good practice. Its ratification would help to resolve the
gaps that currently exist in protecting and supporting trafficked
people in the UK. The Convention covers both transnational and internal
trafficking and has a number of important measures, including the
following:
Article 5: Covers prevention measures, including enabling migration
to take place legally, social and economic initiatives targeted
at the vulnerable and promoting a human rights based approach to
counter trafficking policies;
Article 10: Identifying trafficked people via training of appropriate
staff and ensuring
that, where there is reasonable grounds to believe someone have
been trafficked, they are not removed until a full identification
process has been undertaken.
Article 12-15: Contain minimum standards for the protection of
the rights of trafficked persons (including a reflection period
of 30 days, assistance to trafficked people, residency permits,
child protection components, non-discrimination clauses, compensation
provisions, etc.). Assistance should not be made conditional on
their willingness to act as a witness.
Article 20: Criminalising the retention, removal, concealing or
destroying documents for the purpose of trafficking a person.
Article 36: Establishes an independent body of experts (GRETA)
to monitor the implementation of the treaty by those states that
have ratified it.
Summary of Recommendations
- Responses to trafficking must be through a broader prism than
organised immigration crime otherwise many trafficked people will
not be identified and assisted.
- The Government should sign the Council of Europe Convention
on trafficking and timetable a list of activities into the Action
Plan that would allow the UK to ratify it.
- The criteria for entry into existing or new support facilities
should be amended as outlined in this paper and additional places
funded so all women who have been trafficked for the purposes
of sexual exploitation can access the project.
- Specific research should be undertaken as part of the Action
Plan on trafficking for labour exploitation and child trafficking.
- Those trafficked into labour exploitation should be provided
with similar assistance and support to those trafficked into sexual
exploitation. Specialised assistance should be available to children
who have been trafficked and best interests of the child applied
when considering their long term future.
- A review as to why legislation has not been used to prosecute
individuals for trafficking for labour exploitation should be
carried out in order identify the reasons and remedy this problem.
- Exclusions to the Gangmasters (Licensing) Act must be kept to
a minimum. The operation of the scheme should be reviewed after
a year to monitor its effectiveness and consider whether it should
be expanded to cover other industries.
- The proposals in relation to domestic workers reverse changes
made over the last 10 years to protect this category of migrant
from exploitation and the evidence suggests that the measures
will encourage an increase in forced and exploitative labour in
this sector.
- Prevention of trafficking and the identification of trafficked
persons must not be confused with measures to combat smuggling
and illegal immigration in general.
- Providing alternatives to individuals, including in country
of origin, should be a key part of any programme to prevent trafficking.
There should be specific policies to encourage the regular migration
of unskilled labour and the new points based immigration scheme
should be reviewed specifically to assess its possible impact
on trafficking.
- Migrant workers should be entitled to the protections outlined
in the 1990 United Nations Convention on the Protection of
the Rights of All Migrant workers and their Families and should
be informed of their rights and how to access support in the country
of destination.
1 Hereinafter referred to as the Palermo Protocol.
2 For a full list of these questions see page 22 of the Home Office
report Tackling Human Trafficking -- Consultation on proposals
for a UK action plan
3 The Council of the European Union Resolution 2003/C 260/3 invites
the member states to: "promote measures to set up a monitoring
system on trafficking in human beings in order to provide updated
data through the continuous and regular collection of information
from the competent National Authorities such as National Bureaux
and National Rapporteurs". The Resolution builds upon the Hague
Declaration of 26 April 1997 that invited the states to explore
possibilities of appointment of National Rapporteurs on Trafficking
in Women.
Note: The following organisations expressed their agreement and
endorsed this submission:
Liberty, 21 Tabard Street, London;
Safe Exit, Toynbee Hall, 28 Commercial Street, London
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