‘Harmful and unevidenced’: UK’s leading anti trafficking organisations’ verdict on the latest Immigration and Asylum Bill
The government’s latest Immigration and Asylum Bill punishes survivors, emboldens traffickers and significantly weakens the UK’s response to trafficking and modern slavery, states a coalition of anti trafficking organisations.
The proposals will deny access to identification, protection, support and recovery to many survivors. This Bill continues the government’s destructive approach of prioritising immigration control over safeguarding the survivors of a vile crime.
The government has again used reactionary, unevidenced narratives of system ‘misuse’ and ‘last-minute modern slavery claims’ to justify weakening modern slavery protections. This creates a fear that puts survivors at risk and plays directly into the hands of those who would exploit them.
The coalition’s response focuses on the identification and support of victims (clauses 35 to 43 in the Bill). The most damaging of these are:
Clause 36: Establishes a list of arbitrary and punitive factors, such as late disclosure, that are deemed to damage a victim’s credibility when making an identification decision
Clause 37: Cuts off support as soon as a negative Conclusive Grounds decision is received, even if it is during the 30-day recovery and reflection period.
Clause 38: Makes public order disqualifications mandatory rather than discretionary, excluding survivors who may have committed a crime as a result of their exploitation from NRM support and protection, and now very explicitly identification
Clause 39: Removes the duty to grant temporary leave to remain for recovery purposes.
Clause 43: Removes the Secretary of State’s duty to assist children and offer some help to survivors whose support has been withdrawn.
This Bill poses a risk to everyone that comes to the UK to seek protection as well as victims and survivors of trafficking and modern slavery. We urge parliament to reject it in its entirety.
Joint briefing from ATLEU, The Anti Trafficking Monitoring Group and Detention Taskforce