Human trafficking

Written by Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP and published in Barking and Dagenham Recorder on Tue 6th Mar 2007

Two weeks from now sees the bicentenary of the law which abolished slave trafficking in the British Empire - an area that at that time covered around one third of the world's population. As a major port and financing centre, London played its role in this heinous trade.

200 years on, you would hope that the slave trade was confined to the history books. Well, unfortunately not. Human trafficking for the sex trade as well as exploited or even forced labour in other sectors - the modern day equivalent of the slave trade - is widespread in Britain today.

According to a recent report there are tens of thousands of victims of slavery in Britain, some coerced into prostitution but many in work where they are at the mercy of unscrupulous agencies and gangmasters. This happens in many different areas of our economy but especially in agriculture, food processing and the construction industry.

Most victims came to Britain legally but were then trafficked into jobs by one of the thousands of gangmasters operating in this country. The workers typically cough up a hefty fee to the 'agency', get paid less than the minimum wage and suffer outrageous deductions for substandard food and housing.

Often the work is dangerous: remember the Chinese cockle-pickers who drowned in Morecambe Bay? Three years on, not much seems to have changed, despite lots of promises from this Labour government. They need to do much, much more to clamp down on the criminals and cowboys and protect the innocent victims.

The government must honour its pledge to sign up to the European convention obliging humane treatment of victims while they decide whether to take part in the prosecution of their traffickers. We can only stop this shameful 21st century slavery by working together across the EU to end the horrific ordeal of victims and jail their tormentors.