The Independent
By Ellen Branagh, PA
Tuesday, 18 November 2008
Authorities today cracked down on a human trafficking gang in what is thought to be the largest operation of its kind ever in the UK, police said.
More than 200 staff from nine different organisations took part in the crackdown on the organised crime group believed to be trafficking people into the UK for cheap labour.
Three men were arrested this morning at a field near Holbeach, South Lincolnshire, on suspicion of human trafficking for the purposes of labour exploitation.
Northamptonshire Police said more than 60 men and women from Eastern European countries including Poland and Lithuania had been taken to Kettering, Northants, where they are now being treated as potential witnesses and victims.
Officers also searched 21 houses in Kettering and across the Midlands as well as a business premises in Market Harborough, Leics.
A spokeswoman said four men and a woman had also been arrested on suspicion of people trafficking and money laundering.
The huge crackdown, codenamed Operation Ruby, involved the East Midlands Foreign National Crime Team, Northamptonshire Police, the UK Human Trafficking Centre, the UK Borders Agency, the Migrant Helpline, Serious Organised Crime Agency and the Gangmasters Licensing Authority.
It centres on allegations people were recruited through advertisements and agencies in Eastern Europe to travel to the UK on the promise of work.
When they arrived, it is thought their documents were taken from them and a proportion of their wages was withheld to pay for housing and transport costs.
Det Supt Glyn Timmins, director of Investigations at Northamptonshire Police, co-ordinated today's operation.
He said it was the culmination of months of liaison, investigation and planning involving the agencies.
He said: "This has been a co-ordinated, large-scale operation as part of an investigation into the activities of what we believe is an organised crime group that has exploited people as cheap labour in fields across this region.
"The fact that so many organisations have come together to act in this way is a demonstration of how seriously we take our responsibility to support people who have been exploited in this way and to disrupt this unacceptable activity."
Nick Kinsella, chief executive of the UK Human Trafficking Centre said they had provided "tactical and strategic advice" and Simon Excell, UK Border Agency regional deputy director, added: "Human trafficking of any kind, whether for sexual or labour exploitation, is an appalling crime where people are treated as commodities and traded for profit.
"It is a modern form of slavery. But both UKBA and the police are determined, with our specialist foreign national crime teams, to stamp it out and catch the ringleaders."
He said they were taking tough action against employers who hire illegal migrants - naming and shaming them, imposing heavy fines, prosecuting and imprisoning them when appropriate.
More than 60 officers from the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) were involved in the operation today.
Soca deputy director Andy Baker said: "Soca is also determined to tackle human trafficking by focusing on the countries migrants come from and the ones they travel through.
"We are working closely with our international partners to increase the risk to serious organised criminals in other countries and reduce the profitability of their activities."
Paul Whitehouse, Chairman of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority added: "Protecting vulnerable workers and dealing with rogue gangmasters is what we do.
"The action taken today shows that no gangmaster can get away with this abuse, the GLA and our colleagues in other agencies are watching and will deal with the unscrupulous individuals that use their control over the lives of their workers to cause misery."
The crackdown also involved Kettering Borough Council and Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service.
Both helped police search premises in Kettering where it is believed workers were living in overcrowded and unsafe conditions.
Luke Hodson, of Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: "Inter-agency action such as this is vital and today's operation could be one of the most valuable life-saving pieces of work we carry out between now and Christmas."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/three-arrested-in-human-trafficking-crackdown-1023871.html
Sunday, 7 December 2008
Thursday, 20 November 2008
UK policy against Human Trafficking: a step backward ?
The Independent – 10.11.2008
Police team that investigated tide of human traffic is closed
Investigators who saved victims of prostitution and child labour have funds withdrawn by Home Office
By Emily Dugan
JOHN STILLWELL/PA
Prostitutes cover their faces during a raid on an illegal brothel. Many women are forced into the trade each year in Britain by human traffickers
Trafficking police unit is being shut down just a year after it was set up because of Home Office spending cuts, The Independent has learnt.
The Metropolitan Police's Human Trafficking Team will cease work next year because its budget has been withdrawn following the decision by the Home Office to cut its yearly funding for human trafficking investigations from £4m to £1.7m.
Politicians and trafficking experts expressed anger at the Home Office's decision, saying it will leave a "gaping hole" in the policing of the crime. Privately, the police themselves are said to be furious about the decision.
The Met's Human Trafficking Team was set up in March 2007 and was designed to actively target gangs who bring women to the UK as sex slaves and children as forced labourers. It is estimated that more than 4,000 people are currently in the UK as a result of having been trafficked.
Britain is considered to be the destination of choice for gangs bringing women into the country from eastern Europe, China, Malaysia, Africa and South America to work in brothels.
It is notoriously difficult to convict criminals for human trafficking, but as the only specialist operational team in the country, the Met's dedicated human trafficking centre had claimed a series of successes.
News of the closure came as the unit claimed another major success last week which saw six sex traffickers jailed for a combined total of 52 years for deceiving a Slovakian teenager into a life of prostitution.
The Home Office yesterday insisted that the funding for the unit was always intended to be time-limited. However, when it was launched last year, the Home Office made no mention of this. Instead, the Home Office minister, Vernon Coaker, said: "This new team will be a specialist unit dedicated to targeting the global criminal networks that profit from this modern day slave trade. Those involved in the trafficking of men, women and children can expect to feel the full weight of the law."
The closure of the Met team has been met with anger. Critics say that it shows the Government is neglecting to take the proper steps to combat those involved in the trafficking trade.
The Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, Chris Huhne, said he was "appalled" by the news, adding: "This is going to leave a gaping hole in investigating crimes that cause untold hardship to many thousands of people. Just as the unit was beginning to have real successes, the Home Office has pulled the rug out from under it. This is a terribly sad and foolish decision."
Christine Beddoe, director of End Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking UK, said that as the entry point for the majority of trafficked people into the UK, London needed a dedicated team to combat the crime nationwide. "It's not just a local issue; London is an important gateway for traffickers across the UK.
"It's a really big blow and it contradicts so much of what the Government is saying about safeguarding victims of trafficking," added Ms Beddoe. "It's the only specialist operational team on human trafficking we have had."
Many anti-trafficking organisations say they are baffled by the timing of the team's closure, so soon after they had secured such notable prosecutions. Simon Chorley, of the pressure group Stop The Traffik, said: "The team were highly respected in terms of human trafficking; to close them down now is unfathomable."
The shadow Home Secretary, Dominic Grieve, said: "This is more evidence that despite the Government's rhetoric, they are not serious about tackling the scourge of human trafficking which ruins too many lives and shames our nation."
A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police said: "The Met's Human Trafficking Team was launched in March 2007 as a result of being fully funded by money from the Home Office. From April 2009 that money will no longer be available and the Met does not have the additional funds to keep the team running in its current format whilst meeting other policing requirements."
A Home Office spokesman confirmed the unit was shutting but insisted that combating human trafficking remained a key priority. "The Association of Chief Police Officers has been able to administer a pot of some £4m last year and £1.7m this year to cover spending by forces," he said.
"This funding was always intended to be time-limited to support forces in mainstreaming organised immigration crime work, including that on human trafficking."
Case study 'I was kept locked in at all times'
*Ada, from Sierra Leone, was 23 when she was trafficked to the UK and forced into prostitution. She had been disowned by her parents in Africa after converting to Christianity and planned a new life in Britain with her boyfriend.
The couple moved to London. Ada, not her real name, said: "I was very happy. I thought I was leaving the past behind me and starting again." But she was met at the airport by three men and taken to a house where she was raped by one of them. Her boyfriend left and went back to Africa while Ada was forced to work in a brothel for the next six months.
She added: "There were five other women there. I had to have sex with two or three men a day and I was kept locked in at all times. I was completely exhausted as I had to see customers at whatever time they came to the brothel, so I was often woken up in the middle of the night.
"The men had guns and I was threatened a lot with physical violence, so I was afraid to say no. I was also too afraid to ask the customers for help because the men told me they would find out and kill me."
Eventually Ada escaped during a New Year party. She added: "I find it very hard to trust people now and I do not like myself. I can't believe my boyfriend did this to me."
Mark Hughes
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/police-team-that-investigated-tide-of-human-traffic-is-closed-1006612.html
Police team that investigated tide of human traffic is closed
Investigators who saved victims of prostitution and child labour have funds withdrawn by Home Office
By Emily Dugan
JOHN STILLWELL/PA
Prostitutes cover their faces during a raid on an illegal brothel. Many women are forced into the trade each year in Britain by human traffickers
Trafficking police unit is being shut down just a year after it was set up because of Home Office spending cuts, The Independent has learnt.
The Metropolitan Police's Human Trafficking Team will cease work next year because its budget has been withdrawn following the decision by the Home Office to cut its yearly funding for human trafficking investigations from £4m to £1.7m.
Politicians and trafficking experts expressed anger at the Home Office's decision, saying it will leave a "gaping hole" in the policing of the crime. Privately, the police themselves are said to be furious about the decision.
The Met's Human Trafficking Team was set up in March 2007 and was designed to actively target gangs who bring women to the UK as sex slaves and children as forced labourers. It is estimated that more than 4,000 people are currently in the UK as a result of having been trafficked.
Britain is considered to be the destination of choice for gangs bringing women into the country from eastern Europe, China, Malaysia, Africa and South America to work in brothels.
It is notoriously difficult to convict criminals for human trafficking, but as the only specialist operational team in the country, the Met's dedicated human trafficking centre had claimed a series of successes.
News of the closure came as the unit claimed another major success last week which saw six sex traffickers jailed for a combined total of 52 years for deceiving a Slovakian teenager into a life of prostitution.
The Home Office yesterday insisted that the funding for the unit was always intended to be time-limited. However, when it was launched last year, the Home Office made no mention of this. Instead, the Home Office minister, Vernon Coaker, said: "This new team will be a specialist unit dedicated to targeting the global criminal networks that profit from this modern day slave trade. Those involved in the trafficking of men, women and children can expect to feel the full weight of the law."
The closure of the Met team has been met with anger. Critics say that it shows the Government is neglecting to take the proper steps to combat those involved in the trafficking trade.
The Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, Chris Huhne, said he was "appalled" by the news, adding: "This is going to leave a gaping hole in investigating crimes that cause untold hardship to many thousands of people. Just as the unit was beginning to have real successes, the Home Office has pulled the rug out from under it. This is a terribly sad and foolish decision."
Christine Beddoe, director of End Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking UK, said that as the entry point for the majority of trafficked people into the UK, London needed a dedicated team to combat the crime nationwide. "It's not just a local issue; London is an important gateway for traffickers across the UK.
"It's a really big blow and it contradicts so much of what the Government is saying about safeguarding victims of trafficking," added Ms Beddoe. "It's the only specialist operational team on human trafficking we have had."
Many anti-trafficking organisations say they are baffled by the timing of the team's closure, so soon after they had secured such notable prosecutions. Simon Chorley, of the pressure group Stop The Traffik, said: "The team were highly respected in terms of human trafficking; to close them down now is unfathomable."
The shadow Home Secretary, Dominic Grieve, said: "This is more evidence that despite the Government's rhetoric, they are not serious about tackling the scourge of human trafficking which ruins too many lives and shames our nation."
A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police said: "The Met's Human Trafficking Team was launched in March 2007 as a result of being fully funded by money from the Home Office. From April 2009 that money will no longer be available and the Met does not have the additional funds to keep the team running in its current format whilst meeting other policing requirements."
A Home Office spokesman confirmed the unit was shutting but insisted that combating human trafficking remained a key priority. "The Association of Chief Police Officers has been able to administer a pot of some £4m last year and £1.7m this year to cover spending by forces," he said.
"This funding was always intended to be time-limited to support forces in mainstreaming organised immigration crime work, including that on human trafficking."
Case study 'I was kept locked in at all times'
*Ada, from Sierra Leone, was 23 when she was trafficked to the UK and forced into prostitution. She had been disowned by her parents in Africa after converting to Christianity and planned a new life in Britain with her boyfriend.
The couple moved to London. Ada, not her real name, said: "I was very happy. I thought I was leaving the past behind me and starting again." But she was met at the airport by three men and taken to a house where she was raped by one of them. Her boyfriend left and went back to Africa while Ada was forced to work in a brothel for the next six months.
She added: "There were five other women there. I had to have sex with two or three men a day and I was kept locked in at all times. I was completely exhausted as I had to see customers at whatever time they came to the brothel, so I was often woken up in the middle of the night.
"The men had guns and I was threatened a lot with physical violence, so I was afraid to say no. I was also too afraid to ask the customers for help because the men told me they would find out and kill me."
Eventually Ada escaped during a New Year party. She added: "I find it very hard to trust people now and I do not like myself. I can't believe my boyfriend did this to me."
Mark Hughes
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/police-team-that-investigated-tide-of-human-traffic-is-closed-1006612.html
Monday, 17 November 2008
ROUNDTABLE ON LABOUR TRAFFICKING
SAHT will be holding a ROUNDTABLE on LABOUR TRAFFICKING
this wednesday the 19th of november at IDS Room 120, 4pm.
this wednesday the 19th of november at IDS Room 120, 4pm.
The idea of SAHT roundtables is that a certain subject is discussed by the group with the goal of engaging into constructive debates and discussions. All have a change to discuss and share their opinions!
Some questions to be thought about for this first roundtable..
- What is the difference between labour trafficking and labour smuggling?
- What is the link between labour exploitation and human trafficking?
- What are the main issues linked to labour migration?
- etc...
- What is the difference between labour trafficking and labour smuggling?
- What is the link between labour exploitation and human trafficking?
- What are the main issues linked to labour migration?
- etc...
To prepare this roundtable, members are advised to read a minimum about the chosen subject.. here are a few useful links to prepare this wednesday roundtable:
Trafficking in women, forced labor and domestic work- GTZ Report:
http://www.antislavery.org/homepage/resources/PDF/traffic%20women%20forced%20labour%20domestic%202006.pdf
Trafficking for force labour in Europe- Anti Slavery report:
http://www.antislavery.org/homepage/resources/PDF/trafficking%20for%20FL%20in%20Europe%204%20country%20report.pdf
Home Office Literature review on labour trafficking:
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs07/rdsolr1007.pdf
Thursday, 13 November 2008
SAHT's New Logo!
SAHT activities and events will from nowon always have this logo visible!Many thanks to Karen for taking the time to make this!
Wednesday, 12 November 2008
SAHT Cake Sale
A BIG thank you to all of you who supported our cake sale
yesterday at the University of Sussex!
yesterday at the University of Sussex!
Thursday, 30 October 2008
SAHT Film Screening
"Lilja 4 Ever"
a film by Lukas Moodysson
Monday the 17th of November, 4 pm
Library LARGE VIEWING ROOM- 1st floor- AV viewing area
"Lilja 4 Ever"
a film by Lukas MoodyssonLibrary LARGE VIEWING ROOM- 1st floor- AV viewing area
The movie is based upon the true story of 16 year old Dangoule Rasalaite who came to Sweden from Lithuania with her boyfriend in1999 in order to find work. Instead she was locked up in an apartment outside Malmö, and forced into prostitution. She took her life in January 2000 by jumping from a road bridge in Malmö.
SAHT kicks off academic year 2008-2009
SAHT will be having an information stand on campus
on TUESDAY THE 11th of NOVEMBER
Come to share information, ideas, learn about human trafficking
and enjoy our delicious cake sale!
All funds collected will be used for SAHT activities in the coming months:
film screenings, debates, conferences and more.
on TUESDAY THE 11th of NOVEMBER
Come to share information, ideas, learn about human trafficking
and enjoy our delicious cake sale!
All funds collected will be used for SAHT activities in the coming months:
film screenings, debates, conferences and more.
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