26 March 2010 - Ministry of Justice
New laws which make it easier to prosecute those who exploit some of the most vulnerable people in society are about to come in to effect.
The new offence of holding another person in slavery or servitude, or requiring another person to perform forced or compulsory labour, is set out in the Coroners and Justice Act 2009. Those found guilty face a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.
Justice Minister Claire Ward said:
‘This change will give police and prosecutors an additional weapon in the fight against forced or compulsory labour – practices which have no place in modern Britain. We are determined to crack down on those who exploit some of the most vulnerable people in society.
‘The victims are often migrant workers who may speak little English, be unaware of their employment rights, or not know how to report what is happening to them.
‘The Government is today sending a clear message that anyone who forces another person to work without giving them the pay and conditions to which they are rightly entitled can be brought to justice.
‘We are committed to a fair deal in the workplace and to tackling practices which are damaging to individuals, society, and ultimately British businesses who have to compete against such unfair practices.’
Human rights campaign group Anti-Slavery International welcomed the move.
Director Aidan McQuade said:
‘Making forced labour and servitude criminal offences in the UK is a great act of leadership by the Government and the Ministry of Justice. Government listened to the concerns of civil society, public servants and parliamentarians and acted with this law to protect the most vulnerable workers from slavery in the factories, farms and even homes of this country.
‘Parliament has now provided clear guidance to law enforcement and prosecutors on society's expectations of how they should act against perpetrators of these crimes. This is an example of politics at its best.’
Claire Ward reassured employers that the new legislation is aimed at people who exploit others, and is unlikely to impact on responsible employers who comply with current law.
She added:
‘We are aware that in many sectors such as agriculture, construction or hospitality, low-cost, seasonal labour can be the lifeblood of a business. This new legislation is not specifically targeted at these industries, but applies across the board.
‘Employers will need to comply with the new law. But if they already comply with existing employment law they’re unlikely to have anything to worry about from the new offence.
‘Forced labour requires a level of coercion or deception beyond that of a normal employment arrangement. For the new offence to apply, the employer must have known the arrangement was oppressive, or turned a blind eye to that fact.’
http://www.justice.gov.uk/news/newsrelease250310c.htm
Friday 23 April 2010
Thursday 22 April 2010
International Woman's Day Revisited
The SAHT team (minus Miranda) and Anti-Slavery International speaker Gemma Wolfes
A big thanks to all of you who attended our event on domestic slavery last term for making it such a success, especially our speaker Gemma Wolfes. We'd also like to thank those of you who gave your time and effort to our fundraising activities.
To find out more about Anti-Slavery International's campaign in trying to get the ILO to adopt a new convention on domestic work and how you can take action please see
http://www.antislavery.org/english/campaigns/home_alone/about_home_alone_campaign.aspx
A big thanks to all of you who attended our event on domestic slavery last term for making it such a success, especially our speaker Gemma Wolfes. We'd also like to thank those of you who gave your time and effort to our fundraising activities.
To find out more about Anti-Slavery International's campaign in trying to get the ILO to adopt a new convention on domestic work and how you can take action please see
http://www.antislavery.org/english/campaigns/home_alone/about_home_alone_campaign.aspx
Wednesday 3 March 2010
International Woman's Day
Monday, March 8th at 2pm
Talk – ʻHuman Trafficking and Domestic Slavery’
Room: Falmer House Common Room
Join us for a talk by Anti-slavery International’s Gemma Wolfes in line with their new ‘Home Alone’ campaign in tackling the global exploitation of domestic workers.
Later that day from 6-8pm
Film Screening – ʻThe Jammedʼ
Russel Building Room 19
‘The Jammed’ is an award winning Australian film, based on a true story of a woman’s attempt to find her daughter who has been trafficked from Asia into the Australian sex trade.
Talk – ʻHuman Trafficking and Domestic Slavery’
Room: Falmer House Common Room
Join us for a talk by Anti-slavery International’s Gemma Wolfes in line with their new ‘Home Alone’ campaign in tackling the global exploitation of domestic workers.
Later that day from 6-8pm
Film Screening – ʻThe Jammedʼ
Russel Building Room 19
‘The Jammed’ is an award winning Australian film, based on a true story of a woman’s attempt to find her daughter who has been trafficked from Asia into the Australian sex trade.
Monday 2 November 2009
Introductory Session
Thursday, November 5th at 1.30pm-Falmer House 228
Film Screening- 'The Real Sex Traffic'-
written and directed by Ric Esther Bienstock
-an award winning documentary inside sex trafficking in Eastern Europe. Featuring interviews with trafficked persons and a convicted trafficker
Following the screening we will present an outline of our plans for this term, which will include discussions, debates and fundraising activities
Film Screening- 'The Real Sex Traffic'-
written and directed by Ric Esther Bienstock
-an award winning documentary inside sex trafficking in Eastern Europe. Featuring interviews with trafficked persons and a convicted trafficker
Following the screening we will present an outline of our plans for this term, which will include discussions, debates and fundraising activities
Should we believe the hype? To what extent do statistics on human trafficking for sexual exploitation into the UK mirror reality?
A summary of Nick Davies’ article
An article published by the Guardian on Tuesday 20th October 2009 by Nick Davies suggested that current figures of sex trafficking into the UK are highly over exaggerated and misleading. The article, entitled “Inquiry fails to find single trafficker who forced anybody into prostitution”, was the product of an investigation led by the Guardian into the results of Operation Pentameter Two (a nationwide investigation into human trafficking conducted in 2007). What was discovered were discrepancies between the number of arrests claimed to have been made and those which in reality took place. The article deemed Pentameter Two a failure on account of not resulting in a single prosecution for trafficking related offences, stating that although five men were convicted of trafficking women into forced prostitution, these were not direct consequences of the operation itself.
Another blow to Pentameter‘s credibility was dealt as Davies illustrated that the definition of trafficking used for the operation was taken from the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Unlike the definition found in the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children 2002, this does not deem force or deception prerequisite to the term. This would potentially question ideas of progress on behalf of sex workers’ rights groups considering the effort made by the Human Rights Caucus during the creation of the Protocol in managing to incorporate these elements into the final product.
Davies concludes that the UK Parliament is in the process of passing the Policing and Crime Bill which, when brought into force, will amend among other things the Sexual Offences Act 2003. This will entail including in section 53A the subsection explaining that, whether or not a person making or promising a payment for sexual services of a prostitute is aware of that prostitute being controlled for gain by a third person, is irrelevant. This would add to the already vast repertoire of laws regulating prostitution which arguably serve to do nothing but isolate the sex worker from protection and further place the goal of recognising sex work as a legitimate form of labour, and thus according to sex workers the corresponding rights, out of reach.
Nick Davies’ report left me with a healthy dose of scepticism as to the real scale of sex trafficking in the UK, and made me question as to how far the hype is just being fed to us by politicians and neo abolitionists with vested interests in eradicating prostitution. However, one must be aware of the difficulties in compiling data on human trafficking, as for example much literature on the topic tells us that potential victims may be less likely to come forward due to fears of possible reprisals to them or their families at the hands of their traffickers or members of the network they are associated to.
-Caroline Eriksson
To read Nick Davies’ report follow the link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/oct/20/government-trafficking-enquiry-fails
We at SAHT would like to know your opinion, please don’t hesitate in posting your thoughts on the topic
An article published by the Guardian on Tuesday 20th October 2009 by Nick Davies suggested that current figures of sex trafficking into the UK are highly over exaggerated and misleading. The article, entitled “Inquiry fails to find single trafficker who forced anybody into prostitution”, was the product of an investigation led by the Guardian into the results of Operation Pentameter Two (a nationwide investigation into human trafficking conducted in 2007). What was discovered were discrepancies between the number of arrests claimed to have been made and those which in reality took place. The article deemed Pentameter Two a failure on account of not resulting in a single prosecution for trafficking related offences, stating that although five men were convicted of trafficking women into forced prostitution, these were not direct consequences of the operation itself.
Another blow to Pentameter‘s credibility was dealt as Davies illustrated that the definition of trafficking used for the operation was taken from the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Unlike the definition found in the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children 2002, this does not deem force or deception prerequisite to the term. This would potentially question ideas of progress on behalf of sex workers’ rights groups considering the effort made by the Human Rights Caucus during the creation of the Protocol in managing to incorporate these elements into the final product.
Davies concludes that the UK Parliament is in the process of passing the Policing and Crime Bill which, when brought into force, will amend among other things the Sexual Offences Act 2003. This will entail including in section 53A the subsection explaining that, whether or not a person making or promising a payment for sexual services of a prostitute is aware of that prostitute being controlled for gain by a third person, is irrelevant. This would add to the already vast repertoire of laws regulating prostitution which arguably serve to do nothing but isolate the sex worker from protection and further place the goal of recognising sex work as a legitimate form of labour, and thus according to sex workers the corresponding rights, out of reach.
Nick Davies’ report left me with a healthy dose of scepticism as to the real scale of sex trafficking in the UK, and made me question as to how far the hype is just being fed to us by politicians and neo abolitionists with vested interests in eradicating prostitution. However, one must be aware of the difficulties in compiling data on human trafficking, as for example much literature on the topic tells us that potential victims may be less likely to come forward due to fears of possible reprisals to them or their families at the hands of their traffickers or members of the network they are associated to.
-Caroline Eriksson
To read Nick Davies’ report follow the link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/oct/20/government-trafficking-enquiry-fails
We at SAHT would like to know your opinion, please don’t hesitate in posting your thoughts on the topic
Monday 22 June 2009
Trafficking in Children - Important Report issued (June 2009)
Breaking the wall of silence: practitioners’ responses to trafficked children and young people
Report by Jenny J. Pearce, Patricia Hynes and Silvie Bovarnick (June 2009)
The report reveals the complexities involved in identifying and responding to the needs of children and young people who have been trafficked into and within the UK. It argues that trafficking is a process, not a one-off event.
Trafficking is often hidden behind a wall of silence with children and young people on one side, afraid or unable to talk, and practitioners on the other, finding it hard to identify the child or young person, respond to their needs or prosecute their abusers.
The research gives insight into how practitioners have worked with and sometimes overcome these problems while maintaining the child’s best interests.
The research was conducted by researchers at the University of Bedfordshire and the NSPCC, jointly managed by the University of Bedfordshire and the NSPCC, and principally funded through The Children’s Charity.
Further information and PDF download of the report (full text) at:
http://www.nspcc.org.uk/Inform/research/Finding /breaking_the_wall_of_silence_wda65628.html
Information taken from NSPCC's website
Report by Jenny J. Pearce, Patricia Hynes and Silvie Bovarnick (June 2009)
The report reveals the complexities involved in identifying and responding to the needs of children and young people who have been trafficked into and within the UK. It argues that trafficking is a process, not a one-off event.
Trafficking is often hidden behind a wall of silence with children and young people on one side, afraid or unable to talk, and practitioners on the other, finding it hard to identify the child or young person, respond to their needs or prosecute their abusers.
The research gives insight into how practitioners have worked with and sometimes overcome these problems while maintaining the child’s best interests.
The research was conducted by researchers at the University of Bedfordshire and the NSPCC, jointly managed by the University of Bedfordshire and the NSPCC, and principally funded through The Children’s Charity.
Further information and PDF download of the report (full text) at:
http://www.nspcc.org.uk/Inform/research/Finding /breaking_the_wall_of_silence_wda65628.html
Information taken from NSPCC's website
Saturday 9 May 2009
Human Trafficking Awareness Week
A warm thank you to all of you who attended our events this week, and a special thank you to our three speakers: Ilse Van Liempt, Jo Doezema and Bridget Anderson!
The blog will soon be updated with a list of literature as discussed during the workshop. We will also send all attendants the presentations of our speakers.
The blog will soon be updated with a list of literature as discussed during the workshop. We will also send all attendants the presentations of our speakers.
Workshop 'Conceptual Approaches to Human Trafficking', with Ilse Van Liempt and Jo Doezema
Conference- 'Victims and Villains', with Bridget Anderson
Conference- 'Victims and Villains', with Bridget Anderson
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