GOVERNMENTS should tighten the noose on human traffickers by increasing the rate of convictions and further educating employers about workers’ rights, according to an expert.
Commending countries, including Bahrain, for taking wide-ranging measures to combat the transnational crime, the UK’s Independent Slavery Commissioner Dame Sara Thornton, however, stressed that efforts should be intensified to maintain the momentum.
In an exclusive interview with the GDN, Ms Thornton, who was attending the Government Forum to Combat Trafficking in Persons in the Middle East, spoke of the challenges faced by countries in tackling human trafficking and shared the UK’s experience in this regard.
“Modern slavery and human trafficking are an international challenge,” said one of Britain’s highest-ranking female police officers.
“We need to work together across the world to eradicate this.
“My job in the UK is to encourage good practices and so I am always looking out for good ideas of what works and it’s good to share and know about Bahrain’s experience.”
During her 33-year policing career, Ms Thornton served as chief constable of Thames Valley Police from 2007 to 2015.
She has also received the Queen’s Police Medal and in 2011 was awarded a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE), assuming her new post this year.
On her first visit to Bahrain, Ms Thornton praised the measures taken by the kingdom to combat human trafficking, such as amended legislations, a government shelter for victims and the establishment of a Victims Assistance Fund.
She pointed out it was a challenge to encourage victims to come forward and testify.
“Urging them to give evidence in court about labour or sexual exploitation or domestic servitude is a challenge.”
She said fear of reprisal often stopped victims from reporting the crime, because they may have overstayed or entered unofficially.
“There is a challenge in the UK and other countries where sometimes victims are unwilling to come forward because they have a very fragile immigration status.”
Migration
Ms Thornton said modern slavery and human trafficking are often linked to people who migrate from one part of the world to another.
“When newcomers are in a strange country where they don’t know anyone or find it difficult to find work or accommodation they often become vulnerable to traffickers.”
Ms Thornton visited the shelter for distressed women run by the Philippines Embassy and spoke to some of the victims.
“Last week in London I met three Filipina women who escaped from domestic servitude and met six women here, and their experiences and stories were very similar.”
She said domestic workers should be aware of their obligations and rights.
“We should also educate employers that it’s not right to ask their servants to work for 20 hours a day.”
She said one of her concerns was the low number of prosecutions in the UK, but this has increased over the years.
“The traffickers believe they can make a lot of money in this crime while the risk is low; we need to change that to make them believe that the risk is high and rewards low.”
Ms Thornton admitted that the UK will need to have tough legislations post Brexit to prevent traffickers from exploiting any gaps.
“We rely on European Union tools to help us investigate modern-day slavery.
“The UK will have new migration policies and the ministers need to ensure that traffickers don’t abuse these policies.”
Meanwhile, the UK National Referral Mechanism (NRM) showed that 6,993 potential victims were identified and supported last year compared to 5,142 in 2017.
The victims were of 130 nationalities, with the majority being British. Ms Thornton expects the number to reach 10,000 referrals this year.
Her comments come ahead of the UK Anti-Slavery Day to be marked tomorrow.
The GDN reported in November last year that the NRM for Victims of Trafficking in Bahrain since its launch in February 2017 had dealt with 7,300 cases.
Bahrain’s NRM is the first of its kind in the region – promoting anti-trafficking procedures, regulating the role of agencies and developing structures to deal with cases.
The forum, which ended yesterday, was attended by regional experts as well as the US Ambassador-at-large, Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons John Richmond.
sandy@gdn.com.bh
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