Trafficked people being treated as criminals by officials
Categories: Articles:Human Rights |
Published: 02/12/2011 |
Views: 1670
Inquiry says Women, men and children trafficked into Britain not seen as victims of crime whose rights have been breached. The victims of human trafficking, including women forced into the sex industry or trapped as unpaid domestic servants, are being unfairly treated as criminals and illegal immigrants, an inquiry has found. Guardian, Severin Carrell, 27/11/2011
The investigation by Lady Helena Kennedy QC has concluded that the police and immigration authorities fail to see the thousands of women, men and children trafficked into Britain as the innocent victims of organised crime whose own basic rights have been breached.
Kennedy's report to the Scottish office of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), published on Monday 28 Nov 2100, after an 18-month inquiry, calls on the UK and Scottish governments to introduce legislation and criminal justice policies which will tackle trafficking as a specific crime and support its victims.
She said trafficked people frequently end up being forced to work in prostitution, domestic service, fruit and vegetable picking, food processing, benefit fraud and cannabis cultivation. But the issue is chiefly treated by the authorities as an illegal immigration, sexual offences or crime enforcement matter. Guardian, Severin Carrell, 27/11/2011
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