Human Trafficking Around the World (46 page)

INTERNAL EFFORTS TO DECREASE TRAFFICKING

Since July 2007 the Australian government has allocated $600,000 per year to the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) to conduct research into the trafficking of persons in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. The hope is to gain greater understanding of the trafficking scenario through evidence-based data and to tailor the nation’s anti-trafficking response accordingly. One hurdle to gathering accurate forced-labor statistics, according to the AIC, is that forced-labor cases can be prosecuted under various criminal provisions. Furthermore, there is no separate offense of labor trafficking in the Criminal Code (David, 2010).

Following criticism of the treatment of migrant workers in Australia, Barbara Deegan—an industrial relations expert and member of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission—was appointed by the deputy prime minister and the minister for immigration and citizenship to review the integrity of the 457 temporary worker visa program. Deegan consulted with unions, overseas workers, industry representatives, and agencies. Her 2008 report proposed 66 changes that would help protect migrant workers from employer exploitation (Deegan, 2008). The fiscal 2008–2009 budget included $19.8 million to improve arrangements for temporary worker visas. The Migration Legislation Amendment (Worker Protection) Act 2008 went into effect on September 14, 2009. The amendment aims to enhance the framework for the sponsorship of foreign workers seeking entry to Australia for work. The objective is to better define employer obligations, facilitate improved communication among governmental agencies, and increase the screening, monitoring, and sanctioning of participating employers (Deegan, 2008; Department of Immigration and Citizenship, 2009). The Worker Protection Act was amended by the Fair Work (State Referral and Consequential and Other Amendments) Act 2009. The provisions address the powers that may be exercised by an inspector when investigating and monitoring non-compliance by sponsors (Department of Immigration and Citizenship, 2009).

Still, persons who enter under the program continue to face exploitation. Pearse Doherty, an Irish Sinn Féin politician who is concerned for Irish workers in Australia, says that Australian trade unions have dubbed “457 visa” workers as “bonded labor.” “Any workers beholden to their employer for their residency rights are naturally going to be vulnerable to exploitation and reluctant to speak up if their rights are being abused” (An Phoblacht, 2012). Fortunately, the government announced in March 2012 that it will establish a fast-track pathway from the temporary skilled subclass 457 visa to permanent residence under the employer-sponsored visa program. Chris Bowen, minister for immigration and citizenship, says this will enable skilled migrants to settle and work in regional and metropolitan Australia. “We know these workers can do the job and are ready to make a commitment to Australia, so it makes sense to streamline their pathway to permanent residence,” Bowen said (Department of Immigration and Citizenship, 2012a).

In August 2007 Australia launched a five-year initiative to give a total of $21 million in support of Indonesia’s anti-trafficking efforts. The project provided training of judges, prosecutors, and police on identifying trafficking victims and how to effectively prosecute traffickers. “Without committed police, prosecutors and judiciary it will never be possible to combat the traffickers or to seek justice for the victims of this terrible crime,” Bill Farmer, the Australian ambassador to Indonesia, told reporters (Khalik, 2007). The hope is that teamwork between nations will help decrease human trafficking throughout the world. “Trafficking is a multinational problem that would need multilateral cooperation to prevent it,” Bambang Hendarso Danuri, chief of the Indonesian National Police, told reporters (Khalik, 2007).

The government has also funded reintegration and return programs in Asia. One focused solely on Thai trafficking victims; another targeted trafficked children and women in Asia. The Australian government was also the co-founder and co-chair of the Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons, and Related Transnational Crime. Additionally, the government funded the Asia Regional Cooperation to Prevent People Trafficking project (2003–2006) and then the Asia Regional Trafficking in Persons Project (2006–2011), which operated in Burma, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand, and the objective of which was to combat trafficking by strengthening the criminal judicial process (U.S. Department of State, 2007a; ARTIP, 2011).

The anti-trafficking laws in Australia are becoming increasingly comprehensive. Yet there is a dearth of prosecutions generally, and particularly in cases of employers involved in debt bondage and the involuntary servitude of migrant workers, as is illustrated in the abuse of the 457 worker visa program. Thus far there has just been one conviction for labor trafficking. In order to properly address forced labor, a specific offense of forced labor needs to be added to the Criminal Code, which will occur if the new bill is passed and properly implemented. Otherwise, prosecutors in forced-labor cases will continue to use a legal instrument that improperly places the emphasis on the movement rather than the exploitation of victims. Finally, those found guilty of human trafficking and related offenses face inadequate sentencing that diminishes the severity of the crime.

CHAPTER 18

United Kingdom

The Home Office still want[s] to send me back. No one has pursued the man [her trafficker].

—EVA, A SEX-TRAFFICKING VICTIM

The United Kingdom prohibits all forms of trafficking under the 2003 Sexual Offences Act, the 2004 Asylum and Immigration Act, and the 2009 Coroners and Justice Act. Authorities have taken significant measures to identify and provide care to women who are trafficked for sexual exploitation and have launched aggressive law-enforcement efforts against trafficking. Despite these efforts, ill treatment and deportation of trafficking victims is still a problem.

THE UNITED KINGDOM AS A DESTINATION

Persons from Africa, Asia, and eastern Europe are subjected to forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation in the United Kingdom. Women and children are trafficked to the United Kingdom for sexual exploitation through organized international gangs. Migrant workers (some of whom are children) are trafficked to the country for forced labor in construction, food processing and food services, restaurants, domestic labor, and agriculture (U.S. Department of State, 2007a, 2007b, 2010). For instance, children, mainly from Vietnam and China, face debt bondage by Vietnamese organized crime gangs for forced work on cannabis farms. Persons from China also make up a large percentage of women forced into prostitution in England and Wales. Nigerian nationals make up one of the highest percentages of identified victims, and there has been a significant increase in the number of identified victims from Uganda. There are also reports of diplomats who exploit domestic workers. These diplomats take advantage of the facts that the workers’ immigration status is dependent on them and that they are often immune from prosecution (U.S. Department of State, 2010, 2011, 2012).

While prostitution among consenting adults is legal, running a brothel, loitering for the purpose of prostitution, or trafficking for sexual exploitation is not (ACPO, 2011). The Home Office in 2003 estimated that there were 4,000 victims of human trafficking for sexual purposes at any given time. In 2009 the Home Affairs Committee increased this estimate to 5,000 victims, and in 2010 the ACPO estimated that 2,600 women involved in off-street prostitution in England and Wales were trafficking victims; most (2,200) were from Asia, primarily China (Lipscombe, 2012). The number of persons rescued helps give a glimpse of the number of persons trafficked, though—as experts say—this is likely only the tip of the iceberg. Between April 2009 and September 2010 the U.K. government, through the Border Agency and police, reported identifying 379 potential trafficking victims, 89 of whom were children. In 2010 authorities also rescued 15 trafficking victims in Northern Ireland (U.S. Department of State, 2011). In 2011 the government identified and referred 294 potential trafficking victims; at least 117 were later determined to have been trafficked. Not counting internal trafficking in the U.K., the most common countries of origin for the victims were Lithuania, Romania, and Slovakia. Victims typically have a similar story: they are brought into the country under false pretenses of legitimate employment; subjected to debt bondage by being charged an inordinate amount of money for “travel expenses”; and deprived of their documentation. Traffickers often threaten victims with violence and even death. Some traffickers live up to these threats by utilizing physical and sexual abuse (U.S. Department of State, 2007a, 2007b).

One example of a victim lured to the United Kingdom through false promises of employment is Eva. A family friend promised her a legitimate job abroad when she was 15 years old. Instead, she was forced to prostitute in London. “He never beat me, but I was scared of him,” Eva said. “[I was] worried he would kill me.” Eva had no money or travel documents, but when given the opportunity she escaped. When she applied for asylum in the United Kingdom she was mistreated. “When I applied for asylum the security guard started shouting questions at me,” Eva said. “[He asked] where was I staying, why did I not have any documentation. I just broke down. They didn’t believe I was 17, so I was taken to Brozefield prison.” With the help of her church and local NGOs, she obtained legal representation and was released from the prison. “The Home Office still want[s] to send me back,” Eva said. “No one has pursued the man [her trafficker]” (Lewis, 2006).

According to Klara Skrivankova, trafficking program coordinator at Anti-Slavery International in London, “At the moment, there are many more people identified for sex trafficking than labor trafficking. However, the reality is that the majority of forced-labor cases are not identified and thus are not included in those numbers.” Skrivankova has seen forced labor in enterprises such as food processing, the garment industry, catering, and hospitality. “You see trafficking often when there are temporary jobs and where there is a chain of subcontractors,” Skrivankova said. “People become agents to supply labor, and thus the responsibility is removed.”
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As in many other nations, the persons most vulnerable to forced labor in the United Kingdom are migrant workers. Skrivankova believes this situation reflects the interrelationship between victims’ lack of access to labor rights and the impunity granted to employers (Skrivankova, 2010). One such case is that of Yi-Song, a Chinese citizen who paid smugglers $20,802. Once he was in the United Kingdom his employer did not allow him and the other 10 workers to leave the premises and did not pay them for their first two weeks of employment. For food, the workers were given instant soup and tea three times a day. They earned nominal wages of $81.60 per week and were forced to work 20 or more hours a day, sleeping in 3-to-4-hour shifts so that they could continue to work. When they complained, the employer threatened to call the police and have them deported (Skrivankova, 2010).

Another case of forced labor is that of Pushpa, a domestic worker. Her employer withheld her passport and forced her to sleep on the floor in the living room. She was not allowed to leave the home, and her employer told her that if she attempted to do so, she would be reported to the police and deported. Pushpa went unpaid for two months—an alleged probation period. After that she was given a check for $326.49. Since she was never allowed to leave the home, Pushpa could not cash the check, so in reality she was never paid. In addition to her duties at the employer’s home from six in the morning to eight at night, Pushpa was forced to clean various office buildings that the employer’s cleaning firm was hired to clean. She worked each night until midnight. Upon return to the home, she was not allowed to sleep until her employer went to bed. She also faced an attempted rape by her employer’s son and friends. While the cases of both Yi-Song and Pushpa fit under the criteria of forced labor and labor law violations, the irregular status of the victims prohibits them from access to labor law remedies. The latter simply helps to perpetuate the immunity granted to unscrupulous employers (Skrivankova, 2010). The dependency of migrant domestic workers on their employer, and in turn their vulnerability, were further increased in 2012 when the government reestablished a restrictive visa regime to prohibit domestic workers in the United Kingdom from changing employers (Mantouvalou, 2012).

Human trafficking also occurs within the United Kingdom. British nationals are vulnerable to exploitation and forced labor in the workplace, and children are trafficked internally for prostitution. In fact, in 2011 the United Kingdom was one of the primary nations of origin for victims identified by the U.K. government (Skrivankova, 2010; U.S. Department of State, 2010, 2012). To a lesser extent British nationals are trafficked abroad. One such case involves persons of the Traveller community (persons, including Roma and non-Roma, with itinerant lifestyles) trafficked for forced labor in the United Kingdom and later in Norway and Sweden. The victims worked 12-hour days for six days a week laying asphalt and tiles for private individuals; their weekly wages were $15.39. In addition, the workers faced abuse and physical violence. For instance, the traffickers shaved the workers’ heads to demonstrate that the victims were their prisoners (Skrivankova, 2010).

WHAT HAPPENS TO VICTIMS AFTER TRAFFICKING

As in many nations, in the United Kingdom a conflict exists between the government’s agendas to control immigration and to properly aid trafficking victims. This conflict is salient in the fact that the U.K. Border Agency, whose primary focus is immigration issues, is also the lead anti-trafficking agency; and this may hinder its ability to properly identify, protect, and support victims of trafficking. For example, 49 officially recognized trafficking victims identified from April through December 2009 by the Border Agency and police through the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) were not effectively referred. Instead, 27 victims were housed in an immigration detention center and 22 were housed in a young offenders’ institution. NGOs maintained that the NRM also failed to ensure that identified victims were properly referred to special care providers. In 2011 NGOs reported that trafficking victims continued to be inadvertently deported or that they faced other penalization as offenders (U.S. Department of State, 2010, 2011, 2012).