Reanna Smith, Dr Rosie RileyHuman trafficking refers to the exploitation of individuals through force, deception, coercion or fraud. This may include forms of commercial sexual exploitation, forced labour, domestic servitude, financial exploitation, forced criminal activity and “County Lines”. Despite being cited as one of the world’s fastest-growing crimes, there are ongoing misconceptions about what human trafficking is. Systemic flaws embedded within the very institutions designed to protect victims mean numbers of detected human trafficking victims represent just a small proportion of the crime’s actual magnitude. Instead, an estimated 90% of trafficking victims in the UK go undetected, a figure only set to surge under the global strain of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Human trafficking isn’t always a cross-border crime. In 2019, the majority of people referred to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), the framework used to identify and refer potential victims of modern slavery, were UK nationals. Alongside them, victims from Albania and Vietnam were amongst the nationalities most commonly referred into the NRM, followed by individuals from many other countries of origin.
All victims of human trafficking face significant issues when it comes to their identification and protection and are at risk of being criminalised for things they are forced to do whilst under the control of trafficking perpetrators. However, challenges related to immigration status, misconceptions around ‘legal’ and ‘illegal’ migration and the complex immigration system itself are unique to victims that have entered the UK from overseas, putting them at an increased risk of being treated as criminals, rather than victims.
Misconceptions lead to tragedy
In 2019, 10,627 potential victims of modern slavery were referred to the NRM; a 52% increase from 2018. Labour exploitation was the most common form of exploitation for adults, whilst criminal exploitation was most common for minors. A large number were victims of sexual exploitation, including some individuals allowed entry on a Spouse visa after being forced into marriage.
For many victims, precarious, desperate and unsafe situations in their country of residence forced them to take high-risk decisions involving migration, including to seek asylum. Many may have been lured by the promise and potential of safety, work or money to feed their families when very few, or no other options seemed available. Given the increasing obstacles to accessing safety rapidly and through legal channels, attempted international border crossing may begin with an agreement between an individual and a smuggler to provide the service of illegal entry into another country. Smuggling journeys may be highly dangerous in themselves and place the individual in a situation of great vulnerability. Human trafficking thrives on such vulnerability, with perpetrators more readily able to gain power over an individual for control and exploitation that may continue long after the planned initial travel. Whether or not smuggling was a planned decision within an individual’s journey, if victims of human trafficking aren’t recognised as such, they risk being perceived and treated as criminals – “illegal immigrants” and could be subject to deportation and detention centres without consideration of the exploitative abuse they may have experienced, and it’s setting in the context of a difficult and precarious life.
Whether these individuals are treated as victims or criminals largely depends on the definitions attributed to them by the widely accepted United Nations Protocols, also known as the Palermo protocols. According to the protocols, the differentiation between “human trafficking” and “human smuggling” largely depends on the presence of exploitation endured by victims. The definition of human trafficking, in the Protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, lays out the crime as:
“The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.”
Comparatively, the definition of people smuggling in the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, emphasises illegality and suppresses the mention of victims:
“The procurement, in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit, of the illegal entry of a person into a State Party of which the person is not a national or a permanent resident.”
The discrepancies between these two definitions fail to acknowledge the commonplace trajectory for smuggling cases to develop into cases of trafficking, with victims promised a new life to work in the UK, before being subject to exploitation, abuse and coercion upon arrival. One only has to look at the recent tragedy in Essex where 39 Vietnamese nationals were found dead in a lorry to see the fatal consequences of a smuggler’s deceitful promises. The lead detective chief inspector, Daniel Stoten, stated that whilst these individuals most likely volunteered to begin their journey to the UK, it was highly likely that they were exploited and would continue to be exploited had they survived.
Criminal presumption over victim protection
Whilst it is the Home Office’s responsibility to create a safe environment for trafficking survivors, the institution’s policies, including the latest “New Plan for Immigration” contributes to an overall hostile environment and ‘culture of disbelief’ towards immigrants. Overall, the systemic prioritisation of reducing immigration numbers leads to neglect in tackling human rights abuses. For example, official government guidance claimed that victims of human trafficking, who gain financially from being sexually exploited in the UK can be refused asylum, stating that “… trafficked women who return from Europe, wealthy from prostitution, enjoy high social-economic status and in general are not subject to negative social attitudes on return. They are often held in high regard because they have improved income prospects.” This comment appears to glamourise forced sexual exploitation, indicating that forms of significant financial gain (which is not typical for forced sexual exploitation) somehow outweigh the burden of harm, abuse and violence in the trafficking setting.
Both the legislative goals of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 to “enhance support and protection for victims” and the introduction of the National Referral Mechanism in 2014, do not sufficiently tackle the pervasiveness of trafficking in the UK. One report by JRS UK found that the NRM presents ‘good reasons for thinking that the Home Office’s interest in immigration control undermines the system for identifying and supporting victims, resulting in their continued detention.’
Whilst there are both strengths and significant issues with the Government’s policies to identify and protect trafficking victims, as well as prosecution of traffickers, perhaps the most neglected area is the prevention of human trafficking altogether. Whilst legislation is important for providing the social framework for criminality, the issue of human trafficking can only be solved with adequate prevention measures. The focus should not just be solely on identifying victims, but rather identifying and addressing key vulnerabilities and thus preventing people from being trafficked. To do this, the government must look at the underlying causes of human trafficking and the systems that allow it to take place.
In their 2020 Annual Report on Modern Slavery, the government stated that they were committed to the prevention of modern slavery crimes. However, they have not addressed whether any of their prevention methods, which included raising awareness and improving their understanding of modern slavery, have actually had an impact, and it seems that little action has actually been taken.
For example, it has been well documented that human trafficking often occurs along the same routes as human smuggling, and that displaced persons travelling along these routes are increasingly vulnerable to being trafficked. Yet, the Home Office has not addressed the lack of safe and legal routes for asylum seekers, forcing many to use the more dangerous illegal routes. Instead, their attention is on prosecuting smuggling gangs, rather than preventing the need for them to exist.
Societal hostility towards immigrants and asylum seekers reveals itself across news and social media outlets after the increasing numbers of people crossing the English Channel on small boats made headlines last year. Some politicians were quick to label these people as “illegal immigrants”, some stating they are “stupid, dangerous and criminal”. As well as fuelling national hostility towards people fleeing desperate and precarious situations, this also fails to acknowledge the potential for many of these people to be victims of trafficking, modern slavery and exploitation. These hostile policies resulting in potential harm to victims of trafficking were also seen when a recent High Court ruling stated that Priti Patel had not been following her own anti-trafficking policy. Three claimants who had been positively identified as human trafficking victims had been due to be deported.
The effect of Covid-19
Pushing human trafficking cases even further under the radar, the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated difficulties in the identification and protection of victims. According to a new report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, victims are ‘more exposed to contracting the virus, less equipped to prevent it, and have less access to healthcare to ensure their recovery’.
Covid-19 measures disproportionally affect those already in precarious situations. For those currently being trafficked, new restrictions introduced to curb the spread of Covid-19 have made it even more difficult to access support services. The pandemic has also changed the landscape of human trafficking, making it increasingly difficult to detect potential victims. Traffickers have had to adapt their methods of exploitation; agricultural labour exploitation has increased whilst other services have shut down and sexual exploitation and criminal drug gangs have moved online.
Recently, the Home Office has come under criticism over their use of ex-military barracks to house asylum seekers during the pandemic. Potential victims of human trafficking and previous torture victims have been identified as being amongst the hundreds of asylum seekers housed at barracks in Kent and Pembrokeshire. An investigation is currently being carried out following reports of unsafe and unsanitary conditions as well as outbreaks of Covid-19. The use of these barracks as contingency housing for asylum seekers is evidence of the lack of care provided to potential victims of trafficking, as well as other vulnerable people by the UK government.
Protecting victims of human trafficking in the UK begins with the elimination of hostility and the correcting of misconceptions currently surrounding the definition and process of human trafficking and exploitation. Now more than ever, policies that prioritise genuine concern of trafficking victims must be implemented, with those working at every level of immigration work receiving comprehensive education on how to recognise the signs of trafficking and modern slavery, especially amidst the additional barriers created by the pandemic.
Reanna Smith is a specialist content writer and political correspondent for the Immigration Advice Service, which is the leading law firm for UK Immigration Lawyers.