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8 April 2014
New Modern Slavery Bill must focus on victims say MPs.
Anti-Slavery International welcomes the findings of the Parliamentary Joint Select Committee on the Draft Modern Slavery Bill after its report stressed the focus of the Bill needs to shift toward the victim protection in order to effectively tackle the crime.
The Committee has recommended a series of improvements to the Bill, stressing that putting the victim protection on a statutory footing and making it easier for victims to claim compensation is morally right, politically expedient and fundamental to effective prosecution.
It also recommended strengthening the measures to protect children, ensuring that victims are not prosecuted for crimes they were compelled to commit as a consequence of their enslavement, ensuring independence for the Anti-slavery Commissioner and requiring large companies to make sure that goods sold in the UK are free from forced labour.
Aidan McQuade, director of Anti-Slavery International, said: ‘It is deeply heartening to see that the Select Committee has come to conclusions almost identical to our own in relation to the half-hearted Draft bill that the government has put forward. We have always argued that comprehensive victim protection system needs to be at the heart of the Bill if it’s to be effective in tackling slavery.
‘The government needs to recognise that in order to prosecute the criminals behind these abhorrent crimes it has to first and foremost focus on the rights and welfare of victims and ensuring they are given the support they require and are legally entitled to, so they can act as witnesses in court.
‘The government has so far not had a good record in protecting people vulnerable to slavery, as it continues to discriminate against trafficked victims who come from outside of the EU and by taking away the right to change the employer from the migrant domestic workers. We hope that the Committee’s report drawing on the unequivocal evidence by UK and international experts from will help change the attitude of the Government.
‘Anti-Slavery International also welcomes the report’s recommendations on special protection measures for children and introducing independent legal guardians, as well as those on Anti-Slavery Commissioner independent of the Government.
‘Making companies responsible for ensuring that the products they sell on British high street are not tainted with slavery would be a timely and welcome move.’
Steve McQueen, the Oscar-winning director of 12 Years a Slave and a patron of Anti-Slavery International, has lent his support to the report. In a statement released with the report, Mr McQueen said: “There is much in the history of the United Kingdom in relation to slavery that our country should be ashamed of. But one thing that all British people can be justifiably proud is of our anti-slavery tradition stretching back to people such as Equiano, Clarkson, Wilberforce, and the Quakers, and carried on since 1839 by Anti-Slavery International of which I am proud to be a patron.
“The authors of this report can honourably stand in that tradition. They have listened to the evidence and considered it with great care. Their recommendations are humane and principled. More than that they have grasped the complexity of contemporary trafficking and forced labour in the United Kingdom and have set forth clearly the fundamentals of what is necessary to tackle it effectively.
“I warmly commend this report and pay tribute to the Members of the committee who have produced it. Their work has honoured Parliament and the country.”
Note to Editors:
For more information and to arrange interviews with Aidan McQuade please contact Press Officer Jakub Sobik on 0207 501 8934 or at j.sobik@antislavery.org.
