Catherine Tsalikis
All countries - whether as the origin, transit or destination location for victims of trafficking - are somehow affected by this affront to humanity, yet it remains one of the world's greatest 'hidden' crimes. There has, however, been a growing movement determined to shed light onto the darkest elements of this illegal activity.
The crime of human trafficking is the world's fastest growing, second largest illegal trade after the drug industry. The United Nation (UN)'s Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons defines human trafficking as 'the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of abuse of power or of vulnerability, or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.' Put more simply, human trafficking is modern day slavery - or what British Secretary for Work and Pensions
What this amounts to is millions - 27 million, at the highest estimate - of men, children and mostly women, coerced or mislead into appalling conditions, far from home and often with no opportunity to communicate with the outside world. In many cases, victims willingly travel to foreign countries with handlers who have promised them the chance to work for a better life, perhaps as domestic aids, hotel workers or restaurant staff. Those 'recruited' include those tricked by false agreements, abductees, children sold by parents, runaways and orphans. Upon arrival, they are transferred to the criminals who will effectively become their owners; their passports are seized and they are told they must work off a 'debt' before being freed. In almost all cases, victims are hidden away in abhorrent living conditions and threatened, drugged or violently forced into submission.
Perhaps surprisingly, it is only in the last decade that governments, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society groups and ordinary citizens have come together to address the challenges posed. The aforementioned Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons was signed by the UN in 2000, and there has since been broad consensus on the appropriate response: 142 countries have ratified the protocol, and 128 countries have enacted laws prohibiting all forms of human trafficking.
In June of this year, the
Ambassador
Following the TIP Report, this summer has seen a flurry of positive activity relating to the fight against human trafficking. For example, in
Indeed, there has been an increasingly vocal push - driven in large part by NGOs like STOP (Trafficking UK), the
In
Fortunately, a host of MPs and NGOs have been instrumental in keeping up pressure on the government to escalate its efforts. While ending the enslavement of millions of human beings around the globe seems nothing short of a Sisyphean task, there are a number of measures the
The government should continue to work closely with NGOs to improve its efforts to identify and protect victims, as well as ameliorate the response and support offered to victims that are referred through its National Referral Mechanism (NRM). The majority of victims referred in the first 21 months following the implementation of the NRM were female, with approximately one fourth of referees under the age of eighteen.
This indicates the need to advance the ability of those involved in the NRM process to deal sensitively with women who have possibly been tortured, beaten and raped, as well as an increased ability to deal with enslaved children. The referral process itself is a good start, though the UKHTC and the UKBA should work to expand the presently narrow scope of referees. As the
In 2010, the UK government provided approximately
The TIP Report makes several other viable recommendations to improve the UK's anti-human trafficking strategy; for instance, the standardisation of anti-trafficking responses across
On the eve of the Coalition's parliamentary recess, the Home Office released its long-awaited 2011 Human Trafficking Strategy. In the
Ultimately though, the
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