Monday 7 April 2014

An Irony of Anti-Slavery Laws and Immigration Control Laws in the United Kingdom


Today, I read in BBC that UK MPs are wanting to back the Modern Slavery Bill published in November and have it more protection for children, enhance legal support and compensation for its victims. The BBC report said that MPs wanted Traffickers and Slavemasters to face possible life sentences under the new law, and to simplify criminal offences to help convict suspects faster.



Those convicted of serious offences can get a maximum of 14 years life sentence.
The irony of this is that it targets enforced prostitution, forced labour, domestic servitude at home and forced criminal activity, yet immigration laws couldn’t even provide justice for foreign domestic helpers, who are being physically and psychologically abused by their UK employers, according to a Human Rights Watch report.

They should make it clear that all the offences, such as the slavery of children and adults, child exploitation, exploitation, trafficking and facilitation of modern slavery only applies to victims UK nationals. In any case, domestic helpers have no access to justice, simply because their employers could confiscate their personal information and have them imprisoned inside their homes.

The committee should call for the rights of immigrants as well. But that won’t be politically pretty today, especially with the UK’s net migration targets.