Immigration Barristers' Blog

The government's announcement that it will be changing the rules for migrant domestic workers, including the removal of the right to change employer, will facilitate slavery and trafficking, say human rights charities Kalayaan and Anti-Slavery International. 

Migrant domestic workers are vulnerable to horrific abuse and exploitation as has come to light in a number of recent high profile cases in the criminal courts.

The changes would mean that any domestic workers able to escape abuse will immediately lose their right to reside in the UK, therefore greatly reduce the likelihood that they would seek help from the authorities for fear of being deported.

This policy would lead to the victims becoming ‘illegal’ and perpetrators going unpunished. Campaigners believe that the removal of the legal right to escape an abusive situation would result in domestic workers, desperate to earn money for the survival of themselves and their families, going underground, creating an underclass of unprotected and undocumented workers not protected under UK labour laws.

Audrey Guichon, Domestic Work Programme Co-ordinator, Anti-Slavery International, said: “By tying domestic workers to one employer the Government will effectively be licensing slavery, allowing employers to bring workers to the UK without providing those same workers any way of challenging or escaping abuse if it occurs. These proposed changes would give unscrupulous bosses the power to threaten workers with deportation if they do not comply with whatever they demand.”

Following the publication of the 'Landing in Dover' report by the Children's Commissioner for England, the Executive Director of the Centre for Social Justice, Gavin Poole, has issued a statement welcoming the increased protection for children, and calling for further changes to help protect adult victims of human trafficking.

The statement reads:

“This crucial report from Maggie Atkinson, the Children's Commissioner for England, takes important steps to place unacceptable practices relating to child trafficking firmly in the spotlight. It reinforces some widely held fears that the sheer scale of those trafficked into the UK, and the extent of the crime, is both unknown and undocumented. The report demonstrates that individuals, those too often dismissed as  “illegal immigrants”, are in fact victims of crime, abuse and exploitation and are in need of specialist care.

“Whilst it is encouraging that these practices have reportedly been halted at all UK ports for unaccompanied children, it is disturbing that no changes have been made to protect adults. Those trafficked to the UK are among the most vulnerable members of society, at high risk of exploitation and abuse. Every individual, adult or child, should be given a chance to explain their real story. The risks and extent of trafficking must be fully understood and acknowledged within the Border Agency and at ports across the country; only then can we effectively support the victims and prosecute the perpetrators of this most shameful of crimes.”

A lecturer at Glasgow Caledonian University is to undertake a study into the public’s attitude towards the problem of human trafficking – and how consumers’ spending habits contribute towards it.

Acording to Dr Kiril Sharapov, there is a widespread misconception that human trafficking is only associated with the illegal sex trade, where people are forced into prostitution after being trafficked across borders.

He believes a growing demand for cheap goods and services, and lack of public awareness of trafficking, obscure our concern for the welfare of the migrant workers involved.

Such demand and lack of awareness fuel the exploitation of migrant workers, many of whom work in a wide variety of everyday situations, including care homes, hotels, and construction.

“Trafficking is not just the issue of badly controlled borders, or economic migrants or criminals,” said Dr Sharapov. “It should be looked at from the perspective of why people are smuggled and trafficked here – there is a demand for cheap and exploitable labour. The rising costs of energy and raw materials and the continuing economic downturn are having a direct impact on the price of consumer goods.”

“This creates downward pressure on wages and an increasing demand for cheap labour that can be easily intimidated, for example by physical violence, threats of deportation or to the security of family back home, and exploited.”

Dr Sharapov’s work will focus on the UK (where people are trafficked to), Ukraine (where people are trafficked from) and Hungary (where people are trafficked through).

He will be based at Central European University in Budapest for the duration of his two-year study, which it is hoped will lead to policy changes relating to human trafficking at national as well as international level.