| Previous Section | Back to Table of Contents | Lords Hansard Home Page |
Lord Avebury: I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Hylton, who has raised this issue on a number of occasions—most recently on 23 March, when neither he nor any other noble Lords who took part managed to get any change out of the Minister.
The noble Lord asked about the protection of victims, and the Minister replied by referring him to the White Paper, which was published more than four years ago. We have moved on a bit since then; certainly, the Minister confirmed that when she said that we had signed up to the Palermo protocol, which was mentioned under another amendment. That imposes certain obligations on us, which may have been spelt out in more detail by the Council directive mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord Hylton. The protocol requires that:
- "Each State Party shall consider implementing measures to provide for the physical, psychological and social recovery of victims of trafficking in persons, including, in appropriate cases, in cooperation with non-governmental organizations, other relevant organizations and other elements of civil society, and, in particular, the provision of:
- (a) Appropriate housing;
- (b) Counselling and information, in particular as regards their legal rights, in a language that the victims of trafficking in persons can understand;
- (c) Medical, psychological and material assistance; and
- (d) Employment, educational and training opportunities . . .
- Each State Party shall take into account, in applying the provisions of this article, the age, gender and special needs of victims of trafficking in persons, in particular the special needs of children, including appropriate housing, education and care".
The Minister may disagree with me if she believes that I am wrong, but it must follow from that wording that, if these benefits are to be provided to the victims of trafficking, they must be allowed to remain in the United Kingdom for an appropriate period—especially for the time that it takes them to recover physically, psychologically and socially. In any case, Article 7 of the protocol requires us to consider adopting legislative or other appropriate measures that permit the victims of trafficking in persons to remain in the territory temporarily or permanently in appropriate cases. Clearly, one such case, although certainly not the only one, ought to be when the victim
is prepared to assist the authorities by providing information that may lead to the trafficker's arrest or giving evidence at his trial.If the Minister does not like the wording proposed by the noble Lord, Lord Hylton, are the Government undertaking any formal consideration of the legislative measures that may be required? That is the very least that they can do under the protocol. If they complied with the spirit of the protocol, they would also want to enter into consultations with the appropriate non-governmental organisations on the nature of the legislation required.
I support the amendment and hope that, in replying to the debate, the Government will say what steps they are taking to comply with the protocol as it affects the victims of traffic in general.
The Lord Bishop of Liverpool: I speak to this amendment in support of my noble friend Lord Hylton. I speak having dealt with these matters in the city of Liverpool and on Merseyside.
Liverpool, like Croydon, has particular experience of the needs of asylum seekers. The Churches and voluntary organisations such as Support for Asylum Seekers and Asylum Link Merseyside are working strenuously to care for asylum seekers on a day-to-day basis, helping those made destitute through our present system. We have formed views based on hundreds of cases of hardship. The amendment, as the Committee is fully aware, is not a consolation to traffickers, who need to be penalised severely, but an acknowledgement that asylum seekers when fleeing terror will, like any of us should we find ourselves drowning, reach for a life raft even when it is manned by a pirate.
The Government are aware that the Bill sends out signals. It is those signals that I am particularly aware of, and why I am speaking to the amendment. How we treat asylum seekers and especially the victims of traffickers, particularly those from Iraq, sends out contradictory messages. We went to war out of concern for the Iraqi people and now we are treating some asylum seekers from that country in an inhumane way. Some of them may end up as future leaders in their home country. Their experience of life in Britain is already undermining the reconstruction process in Iraq, for their family members left behind in that country know full well what is happening here and the harsh regime under which some of their family members live. Britain is under the spotlight on the international stage and we must get it right for long-term stability internationally.
Graffiti found on the wall of a tower block in Everton used for housing hundreds of asylum seekers says:
- "I came to this country to live, but now I just want to die".
7 p.m.
The Earl of Sandwich: I, too, support my noble friend's amendment, which raises the important issue of protection. It proposes a period of reflection and the possibility of co-operation in prosecutions. I declare an interest as a council member of Anti-Slavery International. I have also spoken to ECPAT UK and the Eaves Poppy Project. The noble Baroness may remember that I expressed surprise at Second Reading that the Bill did not contain more explicit references to protection. I argued that prevention and protection often go together and that more legislative attention could be given to the victims of trafficking, as has been said, in the light of experience in other countries. There is no need to wait for the European Union. My noble friend is right to press his too modest amendment.
I shall provide an example. The Poppy Project was set up to provide accommodation and support to women trafficked into prostitution. The charity is now finding, however, that more and more cases fall outside this fairly narrow definition. For example, women who are trafficked into domestic labour and suffer appalling violence and abuse at the hands of one person are not eligible for the refuges under the present rules. One woman who actually escaped from a private address after being raped and abused on a regular basis could not get support because she was not strictly working in prostitution. So the definition needs to be broadened.
I also briefly remind noble Lords of the problem of re-trafficking which is the subject of a recent Anti-Slavery International report. For example, women who are returned to a safe house in Albania, even under a three-month resettlement scheme, remain vulnerable to traffickers if for various reasons they cannot live with their own families, as is often the case. They need to be given skills or retraining of some kind which will give them independence, perhaps under a reciprocal arrangement between Albania, the United Kingdom and a country such as Canada.
I mention those ideas only in summary, but it is another area in which the Home Office should be interested because it will prevent re-trafficking. At this stage the noble Baroness will recognise that we are not tabling more amendments. We simply wish to reinforce the concern expressed and seek assurance that the Government will see the link with prevention and find statutory ways of extending the scope of its present support for safe houses and other forms of protection to trafficked persons, as already outlined by the noble Lord, Lord Avebury.
Baroness Gibson of Market Rasen: I support the amendment. On a number of occasions, my colleagues and I on European Union Sub-Committee F have looked at the issue of the trafficking of people. There is no doubt that it is a horrendous crime. The vulnerable and frightened people who are brought into this country undoubtedly suffer the traumas of their ordeals even when they have been lucky enough to be freed from their traffickers. Unfortunately, trafficking is increasing throughout the world. When I saw this amendment I recognised that people who are
trafficked into this country desperately need support and help. The amendment brings forward positive proposals to help and it is worthy of consideration.
Lord Brennan: I, too, speak in favour of the amendment. Over the past few years many have taken part in debates on trafficking. Time has perhaps dulled our sensitivities. The word "trafficking" imports the incapacity of the trafficked to have control over their lives. In the title to Clause 4 the Bill speaks of trafficking for exploitation; in other words, exploiting the bodies of human beings for the pleasure or profit of others. I find it difficult to conceive of a much more despicable offence than that.
If our own nationals were the victims of trafficking we would consider a sentence of 14 years to be the appropriate maximum. We would surely have in place a system of care and support in the short term, once such people have been taken into protection, and a vision about their care in the longer term. Why should a child from another country, trafficked for exploitation, be regarded as any less worthy of such care?
I appreciate that the terms of the amendment may benefit from revision; I appreciate that what I have spoken of involves other ministries apart from the Home Office; but if the Government want to make an impact upon public opinion about the gravity with which they treat this offence, they should match it with the care and merciful consideration that they show to other victims of the offence.
Next Section
Back to Table of Contents
Lords Hansard Home Page