UK signs Council of Europe Convention on Trafficking
On 23 March 2007 the UK signed the Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings. On the same day the Home Office and the Scottish Executive published their own Action Plan on Tackling Human Trafficking. This sets out the government’s strategy for tackling trafficking for sexual exploitation and forced labour, including domestic servitude. It also makes clear that the UK government does not envisage ratifying the Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings very soon, as many organisations and individuals have called upon it to do.
The Action Plan states that there appears to be evidence supporting the view that businesses that use illegal migrant labour are likely to be in breach of other workplace regulations. It says that government departments are working together to produce guidance on ‘key indicators of workplace abuse’, including the use of illegal migrant labour and trafficking for forced labour. Such guidance would be given to inspectors, who are inspecting workplaces for a variety of different purposes, and would help them to identify indicators of abuse and know when and how to share intelligence.
The Gangmasters (Licensing) Act 2004 set up the Gangmasters Licensing Authority to tackle exploitation of workers in the agriculture, food processing and shellfish gathering industries. The first licences were issued in April 2006 and the government is researching the effectiveness of the scheme.
The Action Plan addresses the question of the exploitation of migrant domestic workers, those working in private households. There has been criticism of the government’s proposals to change its approach to migrant domestic workers in its new proposals for a points-based system of migration. The government has proposed that no migrant domestic worker should be able to come to the UK for more than 6 months. At the end of this period the worker would have to leave and the individual or family for whom they worked would be expected to recruit a UK or other European domestic worker. Many people have expressed concern at not being able, for example, to ensure continuity of care for their children if they cannot bring their nanny to stay with them in the UK for as long as they are here. There have also been many expressions of concern that the proposals reverse government policies designed to protect migrant domestic workers from exploitation: the right to change employers and to qualify for settlement if they work in the UK for five years or more. The Action Plan, which uses the language of ‘domestic assistants’ rather than recognising domestic workers as workers, offers little comfort on this subject. It promises research on domestic workers and says that ‘once the Council of Europe Convention is implemented’ all those who have been trafficked, including those trafficked for domestic servitude, will be entitled to a reflection period. Neither employers nor those concerned about the rights of migrant domestic workers are likely to be satisfied with this response.
Trafficking in human beings is not the same as smuggling. Smuggling involves the clandestine movement of people across borders. Trafficking does not necessarily involve any secret or illegal movement: a person may travel on their own passport and there have been cases in which European Union nationals have been trafficked to the UK. Trafficking involves movement of people for their exploitation and often involves the use of threats and debt bondage. Trafficking is often described as ‘modern day slavery’. People are trafficked into and through the UK for sexual exploitation, to be exploited in domestic servitude and for other forms of labour exploitation.
The UK has extensive laws making trafficking a crime and there are widely welcomed proposals in the new UK Borders Bill currently before the UK parliament to strengthen these laws. There is less provision in the UK for protection and support for people who have been trafficked. This is an area where the Council of Europe Convention could make a difference, and also an area addressed in the government’s Action Plan. The Action Plan makes a commitment to a ‘more human-rights centred approach’ and identifies the Convention as central to ensuring such an approach. It identifies actions to be taken to prevent trafficking, to prosecute traffickers and to provide protection and support for victims of trafficking. The Action Plan highlights obligations under the Convention as central to the provision of protection and support for victims but says that “It will inevitably take some time to move from signature to ratification. We are not able to give a date for ratification because much will depend on the extent to which we will require legislative amendments and new processes and guidance. We will not ratify the Convention until we are satisfied that all the required legislative and process changes are in place.”
Alison Harvey, Gherson and Co.
