Victims of
sex trafficking will get the legal right to stay in Britain
temporarily under plans to be unveiled by Tony Blair to
encourage women to testify against their captors.
The Prime Minister will say fears that such rights could
encourage immigration are overriden by the need to tackle a
modern-day form of slavery. He will outline his views at a
Downing Street reception tomorrow to mark the bicentenary of the
abolition of the slave trade, emphasising the parallels between
historical and modern forms of exploitation.
Police estimate that 1,400 women a year are trafficked into
Britain, many expecting legitimate jobs only to find themselves
forced to become sex workers. Violent intimidation is common,
while passports will often be taken away to prevent escape. A
trade in children is also emerging, with a report showing that
up to half of child-trafficking victims put into care
subsequently disappeared, raising fears that the smuggling gangs
had snatched them back.
The government will bow to campaigners' demands to sign the
European Convention on trafficking, which entitles victims to
secure accommodation, medical treatment, legal and translation
assistance and at least a month's right of residence in the
country. Trafficked children would also be entitled to education
during their time here. Campaigners argue there is no point in
liberating victims only to put them on the next plane home -
where they may simply be intercepted by their traffickers - and
that they need support to testify against the people-smugglers.
'This is a modern form of slavery,' said a Downing Street
source. 'We believe that, if we give people this period where
they can recover and reflect, this will encourage victims to
help pursue the traffickers.'
The Home Office had refused to sign the European Convention
for fears that offering a temporary right to remain would
encourage women to allow themselves to be trafficked as a way of
winning the right to stay in Britain, or to make false claims of
trafficking. But John Reid, the Home Secretary, has decided that
illegal immigration is now under sufficient control to permit
the move.
Denis MacShane, the former Foreign Office minister, who has
campaigned on the issue, welcomed the decision to treat
trafficked women as victims rather than criminals facing
deportation, but added: 'The best way to end sex slavery is to
name and shame the men who abuse these women [by buying their
services].'
The treatment of trafficked women has become controversial in
recent months, with prostitutes' organisations complaining that
so-called compassionate police raids to 'rescue' captive women
in brothels are essentially immigration exercises designed to
round up and get rid of foreign sex workers.
Studies have also shown that, while some women did not know
what they were coming to Britain for, a significant proportion
knew they were destined for work in the sex industry - even if
they did not realise they would not be able to leave when they
wished.
Original link: http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,,1995450,00.html
