U.S. Department of State 2006 Trafficking in Persons Report - United Kingdom

United Kingdom (Tier 1)

The United Kingdom is primarily a destination country for trafficked women, children, and men from Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and East Asia for the purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor. Some victims are trafficked through the U.K. to Western Europe. It is estimated that a number of the foreign nationals in prostitution in London's brothels, saunas, and massage parlors are trafficking victims. NGOs report a problem of children trafficked into domestic servitude, particularly from West Africa.

The Government of the United Kingdom fully complies with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. The United Kingdom demonstrated strong law enforcement and prevention efforts throughout the reporting period, and made appreciable progress in improving its performance regarding victim protection. The government showed strong political will to prosecute trafficking and took initiative to improve its protection and overall anti-trafficking efforts by launching a wholesale review of its approach to trafficking in 2005. However, there is no specialized immigration status available for trafficking victims, and shelter capacity for victims continued to be limited. Although the government implemented protocols on victim identification in some of the largest police jurisdictions, nationwide adoption of standardized protocols are recommended to increase victim identification and protection. The government should continue and expand specialized training to include screening and referral of potential trafficking victims for all front line responders among law enforcement, immigration, medical, educational, and social services.

Prosecution

The Government of the United Kingdom mounted a vigorous and effective enforcement and prosecution campaign to combat trafficking in 2005. It successfully prosecuted and punished trafficking, and U.K. courts handed down some of the longest sentences for traffickers in Europe. In 2005, it conducted 343 trafficking investigations and prosecuted eight cases of trafficking for sexual exploitation and one case of forced labor trafficking. As a result, the government convicted 22 traffickers. Punishment adequately reflected the heinous nature of the crime; sentences in these cases ranged from five to 21 years. In addition, the government continued to prosecute traffickers using other law enforcement tools. In January 2006, the government sentenced a U.K. national to five years and four months for sexually abusing two boys in Ghana. In April 2005, the government passed the Serious Organized Crime and Police Act creating a national-level law enforcement entity to disrupt and dismantle organized crime, placing human trafficking second on its list of priorities. The agency is expected to ensure a more comprehensive and coordinated response to trafficking in the U.K. The government's current task force on trafficking continued to coordinate with and engage counterparts in source and transit countries to investigate and dismantle trafficking networks.

Protection

The United Kingdom did not adopt a nation-wide victim-centered approach for trafficking victims in 2005, although it is making serious and sustained efforts to remedy this. National level protocols for identification and standardized procedures for trafficking victims were developed and finalized during the reporting period; many police officers already exercise good practice in identifying and protecting victims of trafficking. The government continued to fund its pilot project that provided 25 places in a London shelter and specialized care for adult women who are victims of trafficking. The government took steps to increase victim capacity at the shelter by funding an additional 10 spaces for victims who require less urgent care. According to the government's evaluation of the project released in September 2005, the shelter accommodated 43 victims of trafficking out of a total of 169 referrals during the period of March 2003 to July 2004. Many of the referrals did not meet the project's criteria. In 2005, the shelter reported housing 56 victims of trafficking. During this timeframe, four victims who met the shelter's criteria were turned away due to the project being at capacity, and three more victims were waitlisted and ultimately turned away. Some NGOs and international organizations criticized the eligibility criteria, claiming they excluded many trafficking victims from receiving much needed assistance and safety. On some occasions, police provided accommodations to trafficking victims at their own expense. The police continued to maintain a child protection presence at Heathrow airport in response to at-risk unaccompanied children arriving at this significant port of entry. According to some observers, the government and immigration authorities made insufficient efforts to proactively screen or identify all potential trafficking victims at ports of entry during the reporting period. However, a major initiative to conduct such screening was launched in February 2006.

Prevention

In 2005, in coordination with NGOs and other stakeholders, the government launched a national consultation regarding trafficking policy that solicited comment on a number of reforms of existing policies and approaches, which if adopted would bring the United Kingdom more in line with established best practices in the area of victim protection. The process boosted visibility of trafficking in the media and served to raise grassroots and official awareness of the problem. In January 2006, the government announced a policy of reducing demand for women in prostitution which included a "zero-tolerance" policy for those who solicit women in prostitution in public.