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The Struggle Between Migration Control and Victim Protection: The UK Approach to Human Trafficking.

Document number
1344
Date
2005
Title
The Struggle Between Migration Control and Victim Protection: The UK Approach to Human Trafficking.
Author/publisher
Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children
Availability
View/save PDF version of this document
Document type(s)
Research/Study/Analysis,
Keywords
United Kingdom, Migrant rights; Migration management; Comprehensive approach to migration; Migration policy; Irregular Migration, Feminization of migration, Economic migration, Labour migration, Free movement, Undocumented migrants; Undocumented labour;
Summary
Once victims are in the UK, traffickers may force them into prostitution or other sexually exploitative conditions, domestic slavery or abusive labor. Traffickers have sold children for fetish ceremonies during which the children may be tortured, dismembered and murdered. While the UK government has been proactive in the recognition of trafficking as a serious crime, it has been less forthcoming with regard to the protection of trafficked persons. Unlike the United States, the Netherlands, Italy and certain other destination countries, the UK has not adopted legal mechanisms to ensure the protection of trafficking victims, either on a short- or long-term basis. There is no provision for a reflection period, during which the victim can recover from her trafficking experience and make decisions about the future, nor is there any specific relief from deportation tailored to trafficking victims that would allow them to remain temporarily or permanently in the UK if return is not viable. Instead, a trafficked person must apply for asylum, which if granted allows the person to remain in the UK permanently, or humanitarian protection or discretionary leave, which are provided for defined periods. While the UK government has identified trafficking as a serious concern, at the same time it has embraced increasingly restrictive asylum laws that dramatically affect the ability of individuals seeking refuge from persecution or other harm to access the protection they need. These barriers are likely to hamper the ability of trafficked persons to access protection either if they were trafficked because they had fled a situation of armed conflict or human rights problems or because they would be at risk of re-trafficking if returned to their homeland. This report offers the following key recommendations: · Put the rights and the protection needs of trafficked persons at the center of any effort to combat trafficking. · Ensure that trafficked persons have full information about, and access to, the asylum system, including consideration of whether they are at risk of re-trafficking. · Develop a new protection mechanism for trafficked persons, including a three- to sixmonth reflection period and temporary or permanent residence for trafficked persons who cannot be returned to their homelands safely. Such mechanisms should not be contingent on cooperation with law enforcement authorities. · Support through national funding the creation of safe house programs that can assist trafficked persons with accommodation, food, counseling services, health care and protection from traffickers. Such services should not be contingent on cooperation with law enforcement authorities. · Ensure effective information sharing and integrated strategies among law enforcement, immigration and social services agencies to combat trafficking. Such efforts must be local, national, regional and international in scope to ensure their effectiveness.
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