UK Home Affairs Committee report on Trafficking
PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY INTO "MODERN SLAVE TRADE" PAINTS PICTURE OF POOR
UNDERSTANDING OF THE PROBLEM, PATCHY ENFORCEMENT AND LITTLE PROTECTION FOR
VICTIMS
Home Affairs Committee
News Release
Committee Office, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Media Enquiries: Jessica Bridges Palmer 020 7219 0724 / 07917 488 447
Attn: News Desks, Political, Home Affairs Correspondents
Embargo: Not for print, broadcast or online publication in before 00.01
Thursday 14 May 2009
The Home Affairs Committee's publishes its report on human trafficking
today, Thursday 14 May 2009, to coincide with a conference hosted by the
Committee that brings together the Chairs of the relevant Committees
from across Europe.
Keith Vaz MP, Chair of the Committee, said: "Unfortunately, our inquiry
has painted a rather grim picture of a lack of understanding of, and
therefore ability to deal with, the problem of human trafficking, among
the various authorities in the UK and other EU countries. We need to be
clear - this is not about
"people smuggling": illegally bringing willing
people into the UK. This is not immigration crime and cannot be dealt
with as such. What we are seeing is in effect a resurgence of a type of
slave trade, yet we have no good information on the scale of the
problem, enforcement is patchy, prosecution rates are low and there is
little protection for victims.
"A number of agencies in the UK - for example, the Metropolitan Police
Human Trafficking Unit and the Gangmasters Licensing Authority - are
recognised internationally as examples of best practice in detecting
and rescuing victims, but we need to greatly improve our understanding
of the problem. We need reliable information about the scale of the
problem to be able to assign resources in the proper direction, and
crucially we need much better training for the agencies and officials
who deal with trafficking, both on the front line and in the criminal
justice and immigration systems."
"We are disappointed that not all Member States are co-operating as
fully with Europol as they could, and that not all EU Member States have
taken practical measures to combat trafficking. However, we are today
bringing together a "coalition of the willing", representatives of
agencies and Committees in other EU countries, to discuss approaches and
best practice in dealing with this appalling crime."
The Committee says one of the biggest problems facing attempts to tackle
trafficking is the lack of any serious, current estimates of the scale
of the "trade in people". At a conservative estimate, there are at least
5,000 trafficking victims in the UK, although some estimates *[INTERESTING
THEY DON'T SAY IT'S A HOME OFFICE ESTIMATE OR ANYTHING ABOUT THE CALCULATION
METHOD] *say there
are at least 4,000 trafficked women working in the sex industry alone.
The estimates of the number of people trafficked into the EU each year
ranges from 100,000 to 800,000.
The Committee expresses its disappointment that the UKHTC has not made
more progress at developing estimates of the scale of the problem, one
of the main tasks for which it was established. Without reasonable
estimates of the scale of the problem, it is impossible to gauge what
support services are needed for victims. Currently there is long-term
government funding for just 35 places for victims in safe accommodation.
*Trafficking - which must be distinguished from people smuggling - takes
several forms. According to Europol the most prevalent form of
trafficking in the EU was of young women and children for sexual
exploitation,* and the trafficking of children to commit street crimes
(e.g. begging) was a 'big issue'. ECPAT UK also listed cannabis
cultivation, forced marriage and benefit fraud as purposes for which
children were trafficked.
About 60% of suspected child victims in local authority care go missing
and are not subsequently found. Evidence from the Local Government
Association emphasised the degree of confusion still surrounding the
question of how to detect child victims of trafficking, and the
Committee was particularly alarmed by accounts that traffickers may be,
in effect, using the "care home system for vulnerable children as
holding pens for their victims until they are ready to pick them up".
Adults might be trafficked to commit crimes such as shoplifting,
pick-pocketing and the sale of pirate CDs and DVDs on the street, or
into legal employment such as construction, agriculture and food
production, and care/nursing. The exploitation of migrant domestic
workers became so notorious that in 1998 the Government introduced
special visas for them.
The Committee considered measures that could be taken to reduce demand
for forced labour and sexual exploitation. *Shortly before it gave
evidence to the Committee, the newspaper publisher, Newsquest, announced
it intended to drop all advertisements for 'adult entertainment' from
its papers throughout the UK. The Committee also considered the proposal
(included in the current Police and Crime Bill) to make sexual
intercourse with a trafficked person a strict liability offence, and
noted the view of senior policemen that this would be very difficult to
enforce.*
*The Committee says that the difficulty in getting prosecutions for
trafficking has led to the "Al Capone" approach, where suspected
traffickers are charged for lesser crimes such as "living on immoral
earnings". However, the problem with this approach is that the lesser
sentences these crimes attract may not allow time even for their
victims' immigration status to be determined, let alone for them to
safely re-establish her/himself in the UK or their home country.*
The Committee identifies "major gaps in awareness and training" within
the UK Border Agency, despite the best efforts of some staff, which it
says "must be addressed by a greater emphasis on the excellent guidance
already available". It was also "disturbed to hear anecdotal evidence of
a lack of awareness about trafficking and its effect on victims among
immigration judges. It seems that there is a pressing need for training
of judges, too."
In the area of "legal" employment, the Committee says that outside the
Gangmasters Licensing Authority's sectors, enforcement is at best patchy
and at worst non-existent. The Committee recommends that that the
construction industry should be the first focus and if, after two years,
the Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate has not succeeded in
reducing abuse, then the remit of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority
should be extended to cover construction.
The Committee noted the reduction in government funding to the Met's
Human Trafficking Unit, and recommended that, far from being run down,
the unit should be sustained until the best practice it represented was
embedded throughout the police service in the UK. /ENDS
Notes to editors:
1. The Committee's one day conference, to be held at Westminster,
is focusing on how Parliamentarians could encourage greater
international co-operation and co-ordination in tackling what is mainly
a transinational crime. There will be a keynote address by the Home
Secretary, and more than 20 MPs from various European countries, plus
police representatives, NGOs and expert groups will take part. It is
hoped that the Parliamentarians will issue a declaration of conclusions
and recommendations at the end of the meeting.
2. The conference is by invitation only - Keith Vaz MP will
be available mid-day for comment.
3. The Committee intends to hold a further evidence session
on the subject of the disappearance of unaccompanied asylum-seeking
children from children's homes, later this year
The Committee membership is as follows:
Rt Hon Keith Vaz (Chairman) (Lab) (Leicester East)
Tom Brake (Lib Dem) (Carshalton & Wallington) Margaret Moran
(Lab) (Luton South)
Ms Karen Buck (Lab) (Regent's Park & Kensington North) Mr Gwyn Prosser
(Lab) (Dover)
Mr James Clappison (Con) (Hertsmere) Bob Russell (Lib
Dem) (Colchester)
Mrs Ann Cryer (Lab) (Keighley) Martin Salter
(Lab) (Reading West)
Mr David T. C. Davies (Con) (Monmouth) Mr Gary Streeter
(Con) (South West Devon)
Mrs Janet Dean (Lab) (Burton) Mr David Winnick
(Lab) (Walsall North)
Patrick Mercer (Con) (Newark)
FURTHER INFORMATION:
Media Enquiries: Jessica Bridges Palmer, Tel 020 7219 0724, email:
bridgespalmerj@parliament.uk
Specific Committee Information: Tel 020 7219 3276, email:
homeaffcom@parliament.uk
Committee Website:
www.parliament.uk/homeaffairscom
www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committ ... s_committe
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Two part report "The Trade in Human Beings: Human Trafficking in the UK"
available at
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm/cmhaff.htm
.
