Monthly Archives: October 2019

Victims of human trafficking can now be found in every town and city in Scotland, experts say.

And as the number of victims increases each year, one charity working with trafficked people has predicted the total it will help this year will be double that of 2018. Cases include sexual exploitation and domestic slavery linked to major cities.

But victims are also forced to work in sectors from the beauty industry and car washes in town centres to agriculture and fisheries in our remotest communities.

Jim Laird, an anti-trafficking expert and contributor to the Scottish Parliaments cross-party group on the issue, said: Human trafficking is now everywhere in Scotland.

I have seen cases in Skye, Inverclyde, Lanarkshire, Tayside and the Borders to name just a few. We need to raise awareness and have people spot the signs and have police follow through on information.

Mr Laird, human trafficking lead at Inverclyde Health and Social Care Partnership, said: We know there are multiple cases of Eastern European crime gangs operating in Glasgow and particularly in Govanhill.

Police are aware and their anti-trafficking unit have been obtaining intelligence on it for some time. Quite often you find Eastern European gangs work in tandem with Asian crime gangs in Scotland. Eastern European gangs provide the people and Asian gangs provide transport and the accommodation in which people are placed.

This has been going on for several years now. However, for any cases prosecuted, the punishment clearly hasnt been sufficient enough to prevent people from operating. This is a real concern. We need to see longer sentences and the legislation applied more appropriately.

There are legislative powers available now but they are not being widely used, nor are powers to recover money from the perpetrators.

He added: Some sentences delivered by the courts have been far too short in my opinion where people are out of prison in a couple of years after having enslaved and exploited people to the tune of thousands of pounds.

There is also still a low prosecution rate in Scotland despite the numbers of people being identified as victims.

I have been doing this type of work for a long time now and I see the impact on victims and on their lives. People say we have some of the best legislation in the world in Scotland. But that doesnt mean a lot unless it is being properly implemented.

We need to ensure that we get the traffickers and they get stiff sentences and it sends out a message to people.

Intelligence revealed by anti-trafficking workers in 2017 pinpointed victims in at least 27 locations from Aberdeen and Annan to Dundee, Kirkcaldy and the Orkney Islands.

Research from Romania found a chilling progression, with young women being exploited for prostitution, then later for domestic labour, and eventually in old age for begging.

Last year, there were 228 referrals for help for victims in Scotland, a figure up 130% since 2013, for the full range of sexual and labour exploitation and domestic servitude.

Rabiya Ravat, deputy director of operations at Migrant Help, one of two groups to which victims can be officially referred for help in Scotland, said: Trafficking and exploitation exists absolutely in every town and city in Scotland.One of the biggest groups we come across are those working in car washes. People need to think about whats happening if they are going for a full car wash and valet which takes an hour and costs 3. Basic maths indicates this does not meet minimum wage requirements.

We get a lot of individuals, particularly Vietnamese, exploited for cannabis cultivation and we also see cases where women are trafficked for domestic servitude or sexual exploitation. These can be linked to sham marriages and attempts to manipulate immigration.

It can be young women in their teens or early 20s who are very vulnerable and are then subjected to quite horrific circumstances and exploitation.

Law enforcement can only do so much and they ultimately respond to crimes being identified.

I would urge the public to open their eyes and ears and report any suspicions of trafficking or modern slavery.

We have seen almost double the number of referrals month on month in Scotland compared to the same periods last year. This is across all nationalities and all types of exploitation so we know that there is a massive increase.

We need greater awareness in the public consciousness that this is happening and is not far removed from them. Its often hidden in plain sight and happens in every town and city.

In Scotland we are talking about several hundred referrals for our services supporting men, women and families affected.

She added: We have good legislation and government supported programmes and when people are identified they can be supported.

Bronagh Andrew, operations manager at Trafficking Awareness Raising Alliance (TARA), the other charity to which cases, specifically sex trafficking victims, are referred for help, said: Trafficking is an issue of growing concern in Scotland. It is a crime perpetrated by brutal and ruthless criminals who seek to make money from the exploitation and misery of others.

The sad truth is people are being trafficked from all over the world to meet the demands of the sex industry. Those who buy sex must also share responsibility as they fuel the demand that the traffickers feed off.

The suffering of the women who are bought and sold for sex will be barely even a consideration for the traffickers and their customers, if at all.

Raising awareness of this appalling industry is vital to disrupt the criminals and assist the authorities in tackling this problem.

Jenny Marra, Labour MSP for North East Scotland, who campaigned for legislation to be introduced to tackle the issue, said: Its quite apparent that human trafficking is happening in communities across the length and breadth of the country.

Its four years since the legislation was passed which introduced clearer and stronger penalties for these types of offences.

Police and authorities, and indeed all of us, must vigilant to the fact that these heinous crimes are happening. It is a crime of extreme abuse and the people responsible must be brought to justice.

Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said: The Scottish Government is committed to tackling the incidence and impact of human trafficking both by providing stronger powers to pursue perpetrators and strengthening the support available for victims of this nefarious crime.

There is no place for human trafficking in our communities and through Scotlands Trafficking and Exploitation Strategy we are working to eliminate this crime.

Information can be passed to the Modern Slavery helpline on 08000 121 700 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111

Greenock/Port Glasgow

Anti-trafficking workers report concerns over nail bars, takeaways and car washes using people brought in from Eastern Europe in past couple of years.

Appin

Abul Kamal Azad found himself forced to work in a remote Highland hotel after borrowing money to come to Britain.

Azad, now 33, who has a wife and son back in Dhaka, found himself the only employee at the Stewart Hotel, in Appin, near Fort William, below, cleaning, cooking, and gardening for up to 22 hours a day, seven days a week.

He said: I was the only worker for 37 bedrooms, I did everything. I woke every morning at 5am. Two coaches of tourists would arrive day after day.

His sponsor, Shamsul Arefin, 50, paid him just 100 a month, took his passport, and threatened to report him as an illegal worker if he complained. Eventually Azad and three new Bangladeshi workers alerted the authorities, and the hotel was raided by the UK Border Agency. In 2015, Arefin was found guilty of human trafficking and jailed for three years.

Skye

Eastern Europeans brought in by Russian gangsters to gather shellfish around two years ago.

Perth

Romanian Remus Groza, who forced his countrymen to live in squalor and paid them just 30 a month for agriculture work, was found guilty of people trafficking last year.

Dundee

Yen Huang, 62, a brothel madam linked to a shadowy Chinese people smuggling ring, who trafficked women into Scotland for sex, was last year jailed for 27 months.

Edinburgh and Glasgow

Ten Romanian women rescued in 2018 from addresses in the two cities where they were working as prostitutes.

Kilmacolm

Trafficked Vietnamese people forced during to work in a cannabis cultivation operation around two years ago.

Original post:

The secret slaves of Scotland: Experts warn rising epidemic of human trafficking now scars every village, town and city - The Sunday Post

Bedfordshire Police and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have carried out targeted visits at two premises in Luton as well as car washes in Bedford and Biggleswade today.

The visits follow an operation carried out by Bedfordshire Police in April around a week of action targeting modern slavery.

A number of potential issues around the national minimum wage, employment classification and VAT were identified, with further enquiries by HMRC now due to take place.

Superintendent Dave Cestaro, Bedfordshire Polices director of intelligence, said: Modern slavery is an abhorrent crime and, sadly, we know that it still takes place here in Bedfordshire.

From car washes and nail bars through to logistics, warehouse and construction businesses; we know that vulnerable people in particular are at risk from unscrupulous bosses involved in organised crime.

We are delighted to have been able to work with HMRC on Anti-Slavery Day and will continue to work with all our partners to protect vulnerable people from being exploited.

A HMRC spokesperson said: HMRC is committed to working with other agencies to end illegal working practices in the illicit economy, and clamp down on any unlawful employment conditions for legal migrants and other workers.

We share intelligence and coordinate prevention and compliance to tackle local risks.

Last year 262 potential victims of modern slavery were referred into the national referral mechanism in Bedfordshire the fifth-highest of all UK police force areas.

Sexual exploitation, such as being trafficked and forced to work in the sex industry, and forced labour are the two most common forms of modern slavery dealt with by Bedfordshire Police.

The force is also increasingly coming across so-called criminal exploitation, where both children and adults are forced to work by gangs involved in drug dealing.

Anyone who suspects someone is at risk of modern slavery can contact police on 101 or via the online reporting centre on the Bedfordshire Police website.

They can also speak to the Modern Slavery Helpline confidentially on 08000 121 700.

See the original post:

Car washes targeted across Bedfordshire in fight against modern slavery and exploitation. - Bedford Today

New forms of modern slavery

While the worlds nations seemingly outlawed slavery and servitude under the UDHR in 1948, it not only exists today but also generates an annual profit of $150 billion, as estimated by the ILO.

The 1973 constitution of Pakistan also prohibits slavery in all its forms. Bonded labour, a special case of slavery involving indebtedness, is also forbidden since 1992 as well as under the penal code.

The 2018 Global Slavery Index estimated the number of victims of modern slavery in Pakistan as 3.19 million. In terms of absolute numbers, Pakistan is ranked third (out of 167 countries) in this index after India (7.99 million) and China (3.386million).

Modern slavery refers to situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or leave because of threats, violence, coercion, abuse of power or deception. It is an umbrella term which includes forced labour and forced marriages. The term is a kind of misnomer since slavery has always existed and never really disappeared. In a 2017 report, the ILO estimated that there are more people trapped in slavery today than ever before in history; a whopping 40 million of which 25 million are in forced labour.

Modern slavery in Pakistan is generally assumed to be prevalent in brick kilns, garment factories, rice and cotton fields, domestic work, human trafficking and begging. There is one more part of modern slavery which has not yet been captured by the labour force surveys.

This is workers in the gig or platform economy. The gig economy is based on deception, selling a dream, a mirage much like human traffickers do! The gig economy allows the hiring of individuals as partners or independent contractors for different kinds of work (online work or work on demand via apps, where the worker has to be physically present at the place) through multitudes of digital labour platforms.

Employment-related benefits in all labour law regimes require subordination in an employment relationship. As soon as a worker is declared independent contractor, s/he loses eligibility for nearly all kinds of employment benefits.

The gig economy plays in this grey area which is not yet regulated. Carefully observing the employment practices of these digital labour platforms, it appears as if the gig economy revolution is fuelled by exploitation with workers aka independent contractors left to fend for themselves.

Practices that are part of the gig economy have always existed with different names like temporary employment, part-time employment, disguised employment and dependent self-employment. These are generally referred to as non-standard employment practices.

But how does this deception occur? It happens by promising the workers a relief from the drudgery of 8am-5pm job. It starts with the clich phrase of No shift. No boss. No limits. The gig economy propagates the gospel of independence, flexibility and freedom which is well received by the younger generation looking for enriching and rewarding opportunities while maintaining their autonomy.

The various digital labour platforms promote the concept of supplementing your income by just hitting the button on the app and getting to work. However, with time, it has increasingly become clear that workers in the gig economy especially those in transportation services are there to earn their livelihoods (and the on-demand work is their main or only source of income), not just to supplement their incomes. It was publicised through survey results that gig economy workers preferred flexibility over being a worker under the archaic labour legislation.

A similar survey done by a Pakistani rights organization claimed that those working with transportation platforms preferred flexibility instead of being identified as employees. However, as new research has already indicated, such questions do not yield the response of workers favouring flexibility when flexibility means loss of job security, various kinds of benefits including leaves, compensation in the event of workplace accidents and social protection. Moreover, a huge percentage has chosen this flexible work out of necessity instead of choice.

The invisible hand of the algorithm works perfectly when it rewards a high-performing independent contractor or simply removes/deactivates him/her from the platform for getting lower ratings from customers. Due to the stiff competition both in online and on-demand work, there is a race to the bottom with working hours averaging 12 hours per day, reduced wages and stripping workers of all those protections which were available to a standard worker.

Employment legislation in Pakistan and elsewhere has not kept pace with the digital revolution. The Ehsaas Strategy also refers to employment creation through promotion of start-ups and freelancing opportunities in the country. However, unless gig economy work is regulated, workers, which include millions of youth, will remain deprived of their rights.

Universal labour guarantees or critical labour protections, namely fundamental labour rights, an adequate living wage, limits on maximum working hours and protection of health and safety at workplace, must be available to all irrespective of their employment status. The state of California finally led the way by enacting a law in September 2019 which regulates the gig economy and requires digital labour platforms to reclassify their workers as employees instead of independent contractors.

Job creation alone wont help. Gig work must be transformed into decent work by regulating it instead of the current laissez faire approach. Many would argue that regulation will kill the nascent digital economy and start-up ecosystem in the country. However, a business which survives only by exploiting and depriving workers of their due rights just by misclassifying them as independent contractors must not be allowed to flourish.

The writer is the founder of the Centre for Labour Research. Email: [emailprotected]

Read more:

New forms of modern slavery - The News International