Why the Suffering of Trafficked Women and Girls Continues Because of Hostile Immigration Policies
According to the UN’s most recent estimations, on any given day there are around 40.3 million people being held as modern slaves globally. Of these people, around two thirds (approximately 29 million) are women and girls. Most of these are either forced into prostitution or marriage or held in sexual slavery.
These figures are difficult to comprehend; the sheer scale of suffering indicated by them is almost unfathomable. Even the concept of modern slavery itself is a notoriously slippery one to grasp or measure. In the UK, victims of human trafficking only started to be officially recorded in 2008, when the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) was created for this purpose. Similar mechanisms have since been implemented around the world, as a means of trying to understand the depth of the issue and how it can be tackled.
The NRM separates cases into different categories, with the most common being forced labour, sexual exploitation and domestic servitude. Women and girls make up the majority of victims in the latter two categories, contributing to 63% of victims recorded under the domestic servitude category and 92% of those listed under sexual exploitation.
People who are referred to the NRM under either of these categories are often victims of sexual, physical and emotional abuse in various forms, with women and girls often either forced into marriage or relationships, or forced into prostitution rings or brothels.
Sadly, this trend is reflected around the world. Female victims make up 96% of sex trafficking cases globally, according to the UN. The gender disparities evident in these forms of trafficking and their victim pools reflect ongoing patriarchal narratives and structures, in which attitudes towards women and girls that allow violence, abuse and coercion are normalised.
Notably, sex trafficking currently sits at the forefront of public and political agendas, on both sides of the Atlantic. Just weeks ago, the world witnessed the arrest of socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, long-time associate and accomplice of infamous financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein was accused and convicted of several counts of forced prostitution and sexual abuse. His victims included young girls and women, who came forward in unison to expose an undercover sex ring led by Epstein and his accomplices, that spanned over decades and continents. This ring was reportedly used by countless influential figures; included in those accused are the current President of the US and a member of Britain’s Royal Family.
But, despite more cases being reported and recorded every year in the UK, people referred through the NRM only represent the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the actual scale of modern slavery. The secretive nature of the issue can be attributed to several factors, all of which when compiled mean that victims are far less likely to avoid coming forward to seek help from authorities.
The first of these is that many victims feel ashamed of their abuse. This is particularly common in women and girls who are sexually abused in some way, either within the sex industry or by their spouse or partner. Forced marriage cases, for instance, often involve victims feeling as though they are bound to a sense of duty or responsibility within their relationships, which is especially common when the marriage is encouraged by family members and communities.
The second is that victims are often cut off from society in some way, and therefore without a strong support network. Sex trafficking victims are often selected by perpetrators based on this trait. This is evident in the Epstein case, for instance. Survivor’s testimonies describe how they were ‘recruited’ by Epstein, Maxwell and other associates in their teenage years, with several below the age of consent at the time. Many had experienced abuse during their childhood and/or teenage years, some were living in social care, and the vast majority were separated in some way from a tangible support network.
This is a common feature of the way in which victims are targeted in the UK, too. While more than half of those reported to the NRM every year are British, a significant (and growing) number are also from overseas. In the sexual exploitation category, this number is even higher. In these cases women and girls from war-torn and dangerous countries (in which they are subject to sexual abuse and violence) attempt to travel to the UK to seek refuge. However, in doing so, many entrust their lives to people smugglers, who promise them jobs or setups in which they will be safe in Britain, only to force them into the sex trade or unconsenting marriage when they arrive.
For these women, coming forward is made especially hard. In most scenarios, traffickers will confiscate a victim’s identification documents, posing in their home countries as smugglers who can use them to acquire a legitimate passport when they arrive. These are then destroyed or held as leverage to encourage victims to keep working for/serving the trafficker once in the UK. In many cases, traffickers will also use the threat of deportation as a means of controlling their victims. Accounts from women forced into marriage often describe their husband’s using their immigration status as a method of controlling them, threatening them with the loss of their Spouse Visa if they go to the authorities.
Unfortunately, these fears are not quelled, but rather made worse, by the Home Office and its policies, which continue to promote a hostile attitude towards undocumented migrants. The ‘hostile environment’ was an umbrella policy rolled out in 2012, created by the then-home secretary Theresa May. Its premise was to turn the UK into a setting that was so unwelcoming for undocumented migrants that they would ‘voluntarily leave’. In its height, the policy was responsible for several now infamous practices and scandals. These include the use of ‘Go Home’ vans (deployed in UK areas housing large numbers of ethnic-minority communities), asking service providers (like hospitals, the police, and landlords) to vet, report and refuse their services to people who couldn’t produce the correct documents, and the ‘Deport First, Appeal Later’ scheme. This scheme targeted asylum seekers’ whose initial claims had been rejected but who still had a right of appeal, allowing them to be immediately deported to their home countries before their appeal could be heard at a tribunal hearing. This scheme was especially controversial, given that an average of 75% of appeals were won during the same period, with independent judges ruling the initial decisions made on cases by the Home Office had been unlawful.
It is these kinds of policies and attitudes that have caused migrant trafficking victims to retreat even further away from the people who are supposed to protect them. Although the hostile environment was officially denounced in 2018, in the aftermath of the Windrush scandal, it still has a grip on the way in which migrants experience life in the UK. Many migrant women who have witnessed or been the victims of crimes, for example, are still found to avoid coming forward to women’s refuges, seeking vital medical care, or reporting abuse to the police. This is because the hostile environment – and the discrimination it garnered – has left a major wound in many migrant communities in Britain, who are distrusting of protective authorities as a result.
Victims of human trafficking are some of the most vulnerable people in the world. As such, more urgently needs to be done to encourage them to come forward and report their crimes. It is time the UK stopped turning a blind eye to the issue of human trafficking. Its victims survive in the darkest parts of our society and the UK government must take some responsibility for leaving the lights switched off. Now is the time to change this. MPs and policymakers urgently need to take steps to shine a spotlight on modern slavery in the UK in order to show its victims that we are there to support, rather than punish them. It is only in doing this that we can rebuild trust in our communities and hope to encourage more people to come forward to ask for help.
Luna Williams is the political correspondent for the Immigration Advice Service, an organisation of immigration lawyers based in the UK and Ireland, that provides legal aid to asylum seekers, domestic abuse survivors and trafficking survivors.