Information
‘People who used to move drugs around now move people around.’
Phil Taylor, Scotland and Northern Ireland Regional Director,UK Border Agency
speaking at the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission Conference,
Belfast, 20 April 2009
More women were trafficked in the 1980s from Asia than during the whole 400 years of slavery, from Africa.
Point made at the National Women’s Council Trafficking Seminar,
Dublin, 3 April 2009
‘Trafficking involves transporting people away from the communities in which they live and forcing them to work against their will using violence, deception, or coercion. When children are trafficked, no violence, deception or coercion needs to be involved: simply transporting them into exploitative conditions constitutes trafficking. People are trafficked both between countries and within the borders of a state.’
Definition by Anti-Slavery
Read in full
‘Smuggling’ or ‘trafficking’ both usually involve crossing international borders in an unauthorised way. The difference is that people who are smuggled are assumed to have given their consent, and people who are trafficked are moved against their will. Those who are controlled by others in their own country are also trafficked people.
Families and individuals may have to move because of poverty or fear, and for some travelling with legal documents is just not an option. Others may travel legally, thinking that they are going to proper jobs in a new country, only to find they are in the power of gangsters, or have been deceived about the work or remuneration. Often, in either trafficking or smuggling, people end up with a large financial debts, owed to the people who smuggled or trafficked them. There can also be subtle ways in which they are ’bound’ to the people or gangs back home, who arranged their transport and employment. To assert one’s rights would seem to be breaking a debt of honour, and family at home may be at physical risk.
Stricter border controls and entry requirements create an underground economy where money is made in providing fraudulent documents, help with transport, guided border crossings, and the facilitation of jobs and accommodation.
The difficulty in getting successful prosecutions has led to suspected traffickers being charged with other offences such as failure to pay tax or living off immoral earnings.
It is often assumed that people trafficking only refers to the movement of women for sexual exploitation but the economic exploitation of people is also common - a modern form of slavery, which is rarely prosecuted. The arrival of unaccompanied minors is another increasing cause for concern. Children may end up in domestic or sexual servitude, or be used to facilitate benefit fraud.
For a discussion of the definitions, read the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime paper, Distinguishing between Human trafficking and People Smuggling [pdf]
Rev Becky Dudley who has undertaken research locally, says:
‘Hard data is difficult to find, but professionals and community workers have encountered a cause for concern in four areas: exploited labour; women and girls who are exploited, including in the sex industry; unaccompanied minors arriving in Northern Ireland; and young people (born in Northern Ireland) who are being systematically sexually exploited.’
From research published in 2005 on behalf of Women’s Aid which can be read here [pdf].
For more on the situation locally please view the further information document here [pdf].
![A4_Poster[1].JPG](http://www.embraceni.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/A4_Poster[1].JPG)
Exploited is a helpful booklet prepared by The Law Centre (NI) with summary information on the rights of trafficked people in 12 languages.
Further information including the languages it is available in can be sourced here.
Hard copies can be obtained from the Law Centre using the link here, by telephone on 028 9024 4401 or write to Law Centre (NI), 124 Donegall Street, Belfast, BT1 2GY
The Law Centre also offers advice through its helpline: 028 9024 4401.
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RESPONSES BY CHRISTIANS IN GB
CHASTE (Churches Alert to Sex Trafficking Across Europe)
A charity that works for the global eradication of trafficking for sexual exploitation, the provision of practical care and support for those who have been trafficked, and the suppression of the demand that drives the supply of women and the girl child into the sex markets of Europe.
CHASTE: PO Box 983, Cambridge, CB3 8WY
Tel: 0845 456 9335
Web: www.chaste.org.uk
Beyond the Streets (formerly the National Christian Alliance on Prostitution)
Working with other agencies, this organisation seeks to support people move from prostitution to a life ‘Beyond the Streets’. The website includes some background information.
Beyond the Streets, PO Box 1676, Southampton, SO15 9DA
Tel: 0845 0044 231
Web: www.beyondthestreets.org.uk
The National Christian Alliance on Prostitution website can still be accessed at www.ncapuk.org and contains many helpful resources (direct link here).
Salvation Army
The Salvation Army has an anti-trafficking resource pack with a DVD of a short movie, a sermon outline, 2 posters and other information costing £5. They can be obtained from:
The Salvation Army Anti-Trafficking Campaign, International Development, 101 Newington Causeway, London, SE1 6BN
Web: www1.salvationarmy.org
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LOCALLY
CORI(NI)
In April 2008 the Conference of the Religious in Ireland in the north, CORI(NI), co-hosted a seminar on the work of the Medialle Trust. Read the talks at www.cori.ie
An ad hoc CORI anti-trafficking working group has issued a leaflet, Trafficking of People; Modern Day Slavery, to provide information for Catholic religious on the issue of trafficking.
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FURTHER INFORMATION:
Act to Prevent Trafficking Conference Paper by Eimer Burke Psychological impact on the trafficked person Oct 2009 [pdf]
House of Commons Library, Standard Note SN/HA/4324, 30 January 2009,
Human Trafficking: UK Responses
House of Commons Select Committee report
The Trade in Human Beings: Human Trafficking in the UK
Comment on the report
Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA)
Further Submission to the Home Affairs Committee Enquiry into Trafficking, March 2009
Identifying a trafficked person [pdf] presentation by Alison Harvey, July 2008
Anti-Slavery (International), charity (Information and other links)
UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime)
Human Trafficking
Migrant Smuggling
Home Office Guidance regarding Trafficking
Paper by Tom Obokata, Assistant Director, Human Rights Centre, Queen’s University Belfast
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NEWS AND COMMENT
Amnesty welcomes UK ratification of the Trafficking Convention
Guardian article on ratification
Examples of trafficking cases (Amnesty)
Gillian Wylie, ‘Securing States or Securing People?, Human Trafficking and Security Dilemmas’, Studies 2006
Local News Items:
BBC News report: NI-Lithuanian labour trafficking exposed
BBC News report: Police save 11 from Trafficking
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ORGANISATIONS
Act to Prevent Trafficking A faith-based group in Ireland which seeks to address the problem of trafficking in persons.
ECPAT UK (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes)
Coalition against child trafficking and exploitation.
Council of Europe: Action against trafficking in human beings.
European Network against Trafficking in Human Beings
CROP (Coalition for the removal of pimping)
STOP (Supporting Trafficked and Oppressed People)
Women’s Aid Federation Northern Ireland
… “we must not merely regard black and minority ethnic people as ‘deserving’ respect and inclusion, but reject racism as the sin of exclusion, disrespect and ‘segregation’, by grasping and cherishing the fact that all God’s children inherently share in the dignity of the Being of God.”
Rev. Arlington Trotmann, Churches Commission on Racial Justice speaking at the All Ireland Churches’ Consulatative Meeting on Racism (AICCMR) conference, Challenged by Difference: Threat or Enrichment, at Dromantine, November 2005.
Northern Ireland has been labelled the race hate capital of Europe and we have a rising tide of hate crime against people from minority ethnic groups and migrant workers.
In 2004-05 a total of 813 racial incidents were recorded in Northern Ireland. Of the 634 recorded racist offences there was 1 murder, 187 woundings and assaults, 61 cases of intimidation and harassment, and 322 criminal damage offences. The clearance rate was 15.9%. Unfortunately these figures rose in 2005-06 to 936 overall. While there were no murders, there were 238 woundings or assaults and 351 incidents of criminal damage. The clearance rate rose to 20.5%. Source www.psni.police.uk
We are all aware of the physical and verbal racial attacks. However, more subtle forms of racial discrimination, indifference and overlooking can exist throughout people’s lives, in contacts with official bodies, in the schoolroom, job hunting and the workplace, medical and housing services, and socially.
‘People threaten you saying they are UVF/UDA and may be or not, they tell you that they see you as “Indian” and think you don’t know the difference’.
A member of the Bangladeshi community quoted in 30 Years Seen but Not Heard
‘Local people who want to do something for ethnic minorities tend to want to group them all together. … Being put together with other ethnic groups can make us feel vulnerable unless we have enough support’.
Julie Chiang Li of the Belfast Chinese Christian Church quoted in lion & lamb: racism and religious liberty, Autumn 2004.
School
‘’When my eldest first went to school he encountered some problems. He is quite dark and other little boys told him that his hands were very dirty. They were P1 children too young to know any better. The principal took action’.
A mother from a minority ethnic community group quoted in Fermanagh: Other Voices
The health service
A family did not know their 6-year old child was dying until the day he died because an interpreter was not offered to them.
‘I have had to interpret for my wife, it was very serious, goodness knows what would have happened it I had not been there’.
2 examples from the Bangladeshi community quoted in 30 Years Seen but Not Heard
Workplace
‘Sometimes people will talk the bad language. Maybe call you Chinkie and maybe ‘go back to your country’ just like that you know. Some…will not be friendly you know, But most people is quite nice’.
A Chinese woman restaurant worker quoted in Into the Light.
Officials
‘They assume you are employed illegally’.
A member of the Bangladeshi community, complaining about heavy-handed raids
on restaurants. Quoted in 30 Years Seen but Not Heard
Politics
‘Everyone wanted you to take sides’…’people should not expect you to be involved in their fight’.
Extract from an interviewee quoted in an ICCM briefing for Church Leaders.
Links with Sectarianism
‘ “Because I have darker skin”, says Marizete, “people think I am Portuguese and therefore assume I am a Catholic.” For this reason she avoids some parts of town.’
From an interview with a Brazilian Baptist pastor’s wife, Marizete Lara living in Dungannon, in lion & lamb: racism and religious liberty, Autumn 2004.
Subtle Racism
Stereotyping: People are asked questions such as: ‘Are you a mail order bride?’
Patronising: ‘It really annoys me when people ask me “where did you learn English?” People take it for granted that I don’t know many things and that in general Asian people don’t know many things.’
Women from a minority ethnic community group quoted in Fermanagh: Other Voices
Church
‘The local minister…provided tins of food and spoons to our home but did not invite us to his church. They [the Church] were saying we were poor. I was insulted. Would the same thing have happened if a white person moved into the area?’
An African woman quoted in an ICCM briefing for Church Leaders.
‘Being a foreigner in this land has not been easy because people take you as a leper…We have once sat in the church…we smiled as we sat down, but there was nothing in response. They shifted and moved to keep space and distance between us so much that it became embarrassing. …Was this just? Everywhere we go, it brings home the fact that once you have coloured skin you are regarded as scum and a refugee who has come to take…take…take…’
Yvonne Mefor in Inter-Cultural Insights: Christian Reflections on Racism, Hospitality and Identity from the Island of Ireland
‘I am from a rejected people. As a member of the Traveller Community neither society, nor the church knows me. And in not knowing me they fear and at times despise me. I am so tired of the rejection and ignorance. I too am much in need of the water from the well. I crave the life giving water that is life from God. … My hope is to be filled with the spirit of love or I will be lost to the continuous hurt I experience as a Traveller person.
Cathleen McDonagh reflecting on John 4:5-15 in Intercultural Insights
Psychiatrist, Raj Persaud, Independent, 29 January 2005
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) have appointed Minority Liaison Officers in each area to respond to the increase in racial incidents and have published Hate Crime, Racial Incidents: Protecting your Rights [pdf]
Scientists have increasingly questioned the concept of ‘race’, despite its popular usage in the public discourse. It is convincingly argued that the difference between different people groups to which ‘race’ refers accounts approximately for only 5%, whilst the differences which occur within people groups, is reckoned to be approximately 85%. (See Stephen Cohen on Ethnicity, Class and Immigration) A question posed by Rev. Arlington Trotmann Churches Commission on Racial Justice speaking at the All Ireland Churches’ Consulatative Meeting on Racism (AICCMR) conference, Challenged by Difference: Threat or Enrichment at Dromantine, November 2005.
Consider undertaking race or ethnicity awareness training.
If you can get a local group together, the Irish School of Ecumenics, in Belfast, Learning Together: Education for Reconciliation Programme, may be able to design a course for you, based on biblical insights. For more information contact cenisec@tcd.ie They have also organised courses on hate crimes, including racism, and restorative justice.
Yvonne Naylor has developed resources for young people and these can be freely accessed on a number of websites including that of Corrymeela, www.corrymeela.org under ‘Free resources’. They can also be found at www.puppetwoman.org .
There are courses on ethnicity/diversity awareness and anti-racism available from groups such as the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities (NICEM), the Multi-Cultural Resource Centre, the Chinese Welfare Association and the Ulster Peoples’ College. Ask your District Council if there are any courses available locally.
Look at Christian Welcome for ways in which we can make our local communities more welcoming and counteract racism. Let us know about racist incidents and positive actions in your local community.
In reality the word ‘ethnic’ refers to all people because all people have ethnicity. In other words, each person belongs to a people group: Asian, white, black, all have a particular heritage. In order to be careful not to reinforce exactly what we are trying to defeat - racism and discrimination - African, African Caribbean, mixed heritage and Asian peoples in Britain are understood as minorities, simply in terms of numbers. White people in Britain are the majority. Whilst people prefer self-definition, ‘minority ethnic’, with the emphasis on ‘minority’ respects those minority identities because it emphasises ‘minority, rather than ‘ethnicity’. To emphasize ethnicity is to deny it to white people, and to use it negatively to segregate minority ethnicities from white ethnicities.
Consequently, even though it is widely used, ‘ethnic minority’ should be avoided as it places the emphasis wrongly on the ethnicity of African, African Caribbean, and Asian and mixed heritage people as the only ones that possess ethnicity. As such ‘ethnic minority’, for all intents and purposes means someone that is marginalized, excluded and unwanted in society, because those terms have attracted grossly negative connotations for minority ethnic groups in Britain.
‘Ethnic group’, ‘ethnic community’, ‘the ethnics’ ‘ethnic minorities’, ‘ethnic people’ as references to minorities in Britain are all linguistically incorrect, socially offensive, and do nothing to help our case against racism and racial discrimination.
Rev. Arlington Trotmann Churches Commission on Racial Justice speaking at the All Ireland Churches’ Consultative Meeting on Racism (AICCMR) conference, Challenged by Difference: Threat or Enrichment at Dromantine, November 2005.
Some interested groups:
- Chinese Welfare Association
- Equality Commission for Northern Ireland
- Labour Relations Agency
- Law Centre NI
- Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities (NICEM)
- Northern Ireland Citizens Advice Bureaux (NIACAB)
- Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission
- Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) 0800 555 111
- Victim Support
Important resource:
Seeking Advice and Redress Against Racism in Northern Ireland [pdf] An Information Handbook, Equality Commission for Northern Ireland and National Consultative Committee on Racism & Interculturalism, March 2005 (This booklet also contains Seeking Advice and Redress Against Racism in Ireland for people in the Republic of Ireland.) This document is also available at: www.equalityni.org and www.nccri.ie
Policy:
A Racial Equality Strategy for Northern Ireland 2005-10 [pdf] OFMDFM This document and other useful research texts on racism and racial equality can be found on the OFMDFM website www.ofmdfmni.gov.uk/race
Sources:
Daniel Holder, Rozana Huq and Loaunne Martin, 30 Years Seen But Not Heard; a Listening Session with the Bangladeshi (Sylheti) Community in Northern Ireland, MCRC, Belfast, 2001.
Into the Light, Conference Report, Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, Belfast, 1999.
Scott Boldt ed., Inter-Cultural Insights: Christian Reflections on Racism, Hospitality and Identity from the Island of Ireland, All Ireland Churches’ Consultative Meeting on Racism, Belfast 2007
Lion & Lamb, Racism and Religious Liberty, No 37 Autumn 2004.
About
EMBRACE is a group of Christians working together to promote a positive response to people seeking asylum, refugees, migrant workers and minority ethnic people in Northern Ireland.
