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Church and Society Secretary Stuart Dew examines some of the issues behind human trafficking.
Chinese lady gives nice massage. Black beauty would like to meet successful businessman. Air hostess has time to spoil you. They are not the kind of advertisements carried in Reform, but they do appear regularly in newspapers up and down the land. Sadly, not only the services offered, but often those offering them, are not what is claimed.
The ‘Chinese lady’ may have come to Britain expecting to work as a waitress in a Chinese restaurant. The ‘black beauty’ may be only 15, and the nearest the ‘air hostess’ may have got to world travel, was to have been put, traumatised, onto a flight from Eastern Europe, and into bondage in Britain.
These are examples of what is slowly being recognised as a massive worldwide trade in vulnerable children and young adults usually for sexual exploitation, but also for low paid menial work in breach of the law. It is a terrible irony, that as we prepare to celebrate, in March next year, the two hundredth anniversary of Britain’s abolition of the slave trade, there are people being held in the UK, in conditions of virtual slavery.
The police admit that they do not know the full extent of the problem. A Home Office study six years ago suggested that between 140 and 1400 young women and girls were trafficked for sexual purposes. The wide range reflects the degree of uncertainty. Today, it is thought that the figure is much higher.
Usually, they have been trafficked by their own countrymen and women, often assisted by family members for financial gain. Typically they come from Africa, China, Vietnam and Thailand, and the countries of the former Soviet bloc. They may be orphans or victims of neglect or child abuse – or from the poorest families or minority ethnic groups. Sometimes they are people who have been educated and believe that western civilisation will improve their life prospects. A few do expect to work as prostitutes, but they also expect to enjoy a better standard of living, and to be able to send money home.
The reality is that they will be held as virtual prisoners, rarely allowed out, may have to service up to twenty clients a day, and will see little or none of the money they earn. Their passport will have been taken away and they will be terrified of what will happen to them or their families, if they should try to escape. Their traffickers will usually be highly organised criminal gangs, who will sell them on as commodities, to meet the law of supply and demand.
The government’s Culture Minister, David Lammy, said in a parliamentary debate in December last year, that in welcoming recognition of the anniversary of the abolition of slavery, he wanted to make sure that links are made between the concerns present 200 years ago, and our concern to tackle modern day slavery. The government wanted to ensure that in 200 years time, no one would feel it necessary to express regret for our actions today.
The Home Office published a consultation document in January Tackling Human Trafficking – Consultation on Proposals for a UK Action Plan in which it recognises a need to do more. It acknowledges that government strategy has concentrated on trying to reduce the supply rather than the demand and asks for ideas on how demand can be reduced.
The document says government recognises that victims will often be highly traumatised by their experiences and will require specialist care and protection. It asks whether there should be an expansion of schemes like the Poppy Project, which provides such care. At present there is no specific provision within immigration legislation to allow those identified as victims of trafficking to remain purely on the basis of their status as a victim. Decisions are made case by case. Some countries provide a period of reflection of up to three months, during which victims are given temporary leave to stay in the country, while they consider whether to assist with an investigation, in an attempt to bring their traffickers to court. The consultation asks for views on this, and whether victims should be given a residence permit to remain in Britain longer term. It also asks how those victims who want to, can be helped to return and reintegrate safely into their home communities.
On behalf of the United Reformed Church, Church and Society has submitted a response emphasising the importance of caring for victims, who may be frightened, ashamed, suspicious and psychologically and emotionally damaged – and may need much longer than three months in a safe place before they can even begin to talk about their ordeal. Far more such places are needed in the style of the Poppy Project. As for re-integrating victims into their home community, in practice this may be impossible, the submission says, because the family may be harassed by traffickers or may be angry that the victim has not sent any money home, while away. There are recorded cases of victims being returned home, only to be re-trafficked.
Those who use prostitutes, the ‘clients’, come from all walks of life. Often, when using a brothel or secure house they will pay their money to a receptionist – as they might when visiting the dentist – and believe they have discharged their obligation responsibly. A vigorous campaign to raise awareness is needed to encourage these ‘clients’ to relate the women and girls they are using to their own daughters, granddaughters and sisters. The URC submission suggests that this might be funded by a tax on sex ‘toys’. It also suggests that demand might be reduced by legislating to prevent the kind of advertisements which this article highlights, and by targeting the sex tourism industry, in which reputable tour organisers play a part.
In Germany, where prostitution has been legalised, ‘sex camps’ are being set up for football’s World Cup finals this summer – with thousands of women and girls likely to be imported to meet demand. This could happen in a more covert way for the Olympics in London, in 2012.
One of the challenges for government is that bringing a prosecution against one trafficking gang may require co-operation by police forces in six or seven different countries through which the victim has been trafficked. Raising awareness of the problem of trafficking may involve the same kind of international co-operation. Churches, which have traditionally strong links with many of the sending countries, may have a role to play here. The URC is exploring possibilities with some of its partner Churches.
Among Christian groups active in highlighting the scandal of sex trafficking are Churches Alert to Sex Trafficking Across Europe (CHASTE) and the National Christian Alliance on Prostitution (NCAP). CHASTE draws attention to the Bible story told in Mark and Luke’s gospels, in which an un-named woman pours costly oil over Jesus’s body and wipes his feet with her hair. In the NIV translation she ‘had lived a sinful life’ and in The Message she is ‘the town harlot’. Perhaps this woman saw, as so many ‘sinners’ have seen, that Jesus offered her freedom from the bondage of her way of life. It was heartening, at a day conference organised by CHASTE, to find that one of the speakers was a woman whose new-found faith had helped release her from thirty years of prostitution.
Stuart Dew is the Secretary for Church and Society
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