Personal Stories of Trafficking

‘A young man, in his late twenties or early thirties, came to the attention of the UK immigration authorities. He had never slept on a bed, had never sat in a chair and had never been paid any money. He had been brought here at the age of 11 from Pakistan into a family home and had no documentation and no evidence of ever having been here.’

‘Katerina was a student in Romania. She built up a friendship with a friend of a friend named Alex, who invited her to the UK and told her that she could stay at his house; he would even help her with the air fare. When she arrived in the UK, Katerina was held prisoner in a flat where she was repeatedly beaten and raped. Alex told her that she could have her freedom, but she would have to work as a prostitute to pay back the money that he had paid to bring her here. Katerina eventually gave in and began work, paying all of the money she made to Alex. Katerina was forced to return to work in the sex industry for over a year until Alex decided that he would sell her on to some other men. While trying to carry out the transaction Alex was arrested.’

‘Two Vietnamese men were recruited to work in the UK. They paid the agent £18,000 to arrange the job and came to the UK under the work permit scheme with a promise to received £4.95 per hour for their work. On arrival in the UK an agent met them at the airport and took their passports away from them. The men worked in a major hotel chain for two months without receiving any pay. All they were given was food. They attempted to organise a strike at the hotel, but almost immediately after this their families in Vietnam received threats. The men were too frightened to approach the Vietnamese Embassy or the police and only approached a Citizens Advice Bureau office via a Vietnamese speaking person they met on the street.’

Stories from GB, from the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee
The Trade in Human Beings: Human Trafficking in the UK
Sixth Report of Session 2008–09 Volume I
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmhaff/23/23i.pdf

‘Two cases highlighted during the course of the research in relation to forced labour concerned people in domestic servitude, hired to look after children and family homes for families from outside of Northern Ireland. These included an Indian national as well as one reported case of a person from North Africa. One of the cases involved the person being essentially locked up in the house for three years, with no contact with the outside world. Neither victim received pay for the work that had been done, they slept on the floor in the houses that they worked in. One of them has been abandoned in Northern Ireland after the family decided to move elsewhere. In both cases, the victims managed to make contact with the authorities and their situation has been investigated. In both cases, the investigation and subsequent actions by the relevant authorities were obstructed by the fact that the perpetrators had left Northern Ireland before any action could be taken against them.’

Domestic servitude in N Ireland from Agnieszka Martynowicz, Sarah Toucas and Anne Caughey, The Nature and Extent of Human Trafficking in Northern Ireland, Jan. 2010.
http://conflictresearch.org.uk/reports/migration/The_Nature_and_Extent_of_Human_Trafficking_in_Northern_Ireland_LR.pdf