Sheltering Victims of Trafficking
On 29 June, the Council of Europe Ad Hoc Committee on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings met to discuss a draft of the European Convention on trafficking. This presents a vital opportunity for victims of trafficking to be provided with such crucial protection as permission to stay in the country for at least three months and short-term residency permits.
This breathing period is vital, not only to protecting the trafficked person, allowing them time to assess their situation and to receive specialist help and support in a safe environment, but it can help disrupt the traffickers' networks.
Trafficking is the fastest growing form of slavery today. In Europe, women, children and men are trafficked from countries within the European Union, neighbouring countries, Asia, Africa, and former Soviet republics into sexual exploitation and forced labour, including domestic work, construction work and agricultural labour.
According to the latest US Government Trafficking in Persons Report an estimated 600,000-800,000 people are trafficked across borders each year, forced through coercion, deception and violence into slavery.
A number of countries have specialist shelters for people who have been trafficked, and in most cases, their ability to gain access to these programmes is dependent on their agreeing to co-operate in an investigation or prosecution, due to existing regulations.
Recently, Beth Herzfeld from Anti-Slavery International visited two organisations that run shelters for trafficked people to see the differences and challenges that each is facing. CAST in Los Angeles, opened the first shelter for trafficked people in the United States in May, and Eaves Housing for Women in London, which has been running the POPPY Project since March 2003; it the only shelter for trafficked people in the United Kingdom.
The Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST) is one of the very few organisations in the US that works exclusively to help trafficked people. Based in Los Angeles, California, it consistently works at capacity. Jennifer Stanger, CAST’s Training Director, says the demand for their services is growing and estimates that by the end of the year, the organisation could be helping 100 people, increasing from the 60 they currently assist.
Most are women who were trafficked into domestic work, but there are also men trafficked into construction and increasingly women trafficked into prostitution. Stanger said most of the people they see come from countries in South East Asia, Africa and South Asia, as well as Russia and Ukraine.
“The US offers victims of trafficking permanent residence and issues visas, but the victim needs to co-operate, basically it is a prosecution tool”, she said. CAST has opened a shelter to provide extra support for those who need it. From the outside, it is a deceptively small, attractive house that looks just like all the others on the tree-lined residential street.
With five bedrooms, it has room for 10 women. There are also rooms where the women can relax together and where they can receive the legal, psychological and employment support the organisation provides.
The shelter is available to each of the women for as long as she needs intensive support. Each is evaluated on a case-by-case basis, but Stanger anticipates that residents will generally need at least a year before being moved to other CAST housing. Those who are not in the shelter, be they trafficked men, women with children, or people who do not need or want this degree of support, are given other safe accommodation run by CAST or a partner organisation.
The ability for any trafficked woman to have access to the shelter, space permitting, is in sharp contrast to the situation in the UK, due to the way in which it is funded and the fact that the US law against trafficking criminalises all forms of trafficking.
In the UK, only trafficking for sexual exploitation is against the law. However, a Bill that will make trafficking for labour exploitation an offence is currently in Parliament.
Because of this, only women who have been trafficked into prostitution in the UK may be admitted to the POPPY Project shelter run by Eaves Housing for Women. Located in London, it is funded by the Home Office. As a result, there are quite strict criteria for women who may be admitted. A woman must have forcibly worked in prostitution in the UK and been referred within 30 days of her having escaped or having been found. Also, if she wishes to stay longer than four weeks, she needs to agree to co-operate with the police.
Eaves wants to have the criteria expanded to include all forms of trafficking and to be open to women who reach them after 30 days. This time limit is particularly difficult, as it is dependent on women being able to reach them relatively quickly, overcoming significant obstacles.
Most are referred by police, social services, immigration, women’s aid projects and other bodies that come into contact with trafficked women. But some have managed to escape and have found their own way there, or been told about the shelter by men who use them or by maids in brothels – but these are rare exceptions.
As is the situation with CAST, Eaves is working at capacity. The shelter can accommodate 25 women, but as Poppy Team Leader Deborah Finding explained, “we need more beds .… recently we had 10 referrals, five met the criteria, but there was only one space.” When the shelter opened, most of the women came from Albania, Moldova and Romania. Now, the majority are from Ukraine, Lithuania and Nigeria. If the project cannot take the women, they are referred to other shelters and Eaves provides specialist outreach help.
Women are referred from all over the country, although most are in London. But, “there need to be similar shelters outside London — Birmingham, Cardiff, Manchester and other cities which also have a big problem with trafficking”, Finding said.
Unlike CAST’s shelter, Eaves houses the women in separate locations across London, in flats or houses that shelter other women victims of abuse. This, Finding says, not only makes it harder for the traffickers to find them, but also, when women are testifying in court, it protects their evidence. They are also housed in areas far from where they were being prostituted. They, however, come together for English and self-defence classes, and other courses that Eaves provides to help them build their independence.
The time women stay in the shelter varies. “Technically, women may stay for four weeks; if they are co-operating in a prosecution it’s 16 weeks. But realistically it is longer because they have no other access to support or funds”, Finding said. Specialist shelters are a crucial component in working against this abuse, providing protection and support for trafficked people.
Both organisations felt it important that governments not link access to the shelter and services with agreeing to co-operate in an investigation. “In what other crime would the victim only receive help if she co-operated?” Finding asked.
For more information about CAST see http://www.castla.org and for Eaves’ trafficking project http://www.poppyproject.org
If you would like to take action calling on members of the Council of Europe to ensure the European Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings has measures protecting victims of trafficking at its heart, see http://www.antislavery.org “campaigns” or contact Anti-Slavery International’s Campaign Officer Sarah Williams on s.williams@antislavery.org
A similar version of this article appeared in Anti-Slavery International’s July Reporter
Anti-Slavery International: Today's Fight for Tomorrow's Future http
Please also see:
US Government Trafficking in Persons Report
http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2004/
European Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings
http://www.coe.int/T/E/human_rights/trafficking/1_Overview/PDF_Fact_sheet_convention_Trafficking.pdf
Abducted, beaten and sold into prostitution: two women's story from an Iraq in turmoil http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=544122
On 29 June, the Council of Europe Ad Hoc Committee on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings met to discuss a draft of the European Convention on trafficking. This presents a vital opportunity for victims of trafficking to be provided with such crucial protection as permission to stay in the country for at least three months and short-term residency permits.
This breathing period is vital, not only to protecting the trafficked person, allowing them time to assess their situation and to receive specialist help and support in a safe environment, but it can help disrupt the traffickers' networks.
Trafficking is the fastest growing form of slavery today. In Europe, women, children and men are trafficked from countries within the European Union, neighbouring countries, Asia, Africa, and former Soviet republics into sexual exploitation and forced labour, including domestic work, construction work and agricultural labour.
According to the latest US Government Trafficking in Persons Report an estimated 600,000-800,000 people are trafficked across borders each year, forced through coercion, deception and violence into slavery.
A number of countries have specialist shelters for people who have been trafficked, and in most cases, their ability to gain access to these programmes is dependent on their agreeing to co-operate in an investigation or prosecution, due to existing regulations.
Recently, Beth Herzfeld from Anti-Slavery International visited two organisations that run shelters for trafficked people to see the differences and challenges that each is facing. CAST in Los Angeles, opened the first shelter for trafficked people in the United States in May, and Eaves Housing for Women in London, which has been running the POPPY Project since March 2003; it the only shelter for trafficked people in the United Kingdom.
The Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST) is one of the very few organisations in the US that works exclusively to help trafficked people. Based in Los Angeles, California, it consistently works at capacity. Jennifer Stanger, CAST’s Training Director, says the demand for their services is growing and estimates that by the end of the year, the organisation could be helping 100 people, increasing from the 60 they currently assist.
Most are women who were trafficked into domestic work, but there are also men trafficked into construction and increasingly women trafficked into prostitution. Stanger said most of the people they see come from countries in South East Asia, Africa and South Asia, as well as Russia and Ukraine.
“The US offers victims of trafficking permanent residence and issues visas, but the victim needs to co-operate, basically it is a prosecution tool”, she said. CAST has opened a shelter to provide extra support for those who need it. From the outside, it is a deceptively small, attractive house that looks just like all the others on the tree-lined residential street.
With five bedrooms, it has room for 10 women. There are also rooms where the women can relax together and where they can receive the legal, psychological and employment support the organisation provides.
The shelter is available to each of the women for as long as she needs intensive support. Each is evaluated on a case-by-case basis, but Stanger anticipates that residents will generally need at least a year before being moved to other CAST housing. Those who are not in the shelter, be they trafficked men, women with children, or people who do not need or want this degree of support, are given other safe accommodation run by CAST or a partner organisation.
The ability for any trafficked woman to have access to the shelter, space permitting, is in sharp contrast to the situation in the UK, due to the way in which it is funded and the fact that the US law against trafficking criminalises all forms of trafficking.
In the UK, only trafficking for sexual exploitation is against the law. However, a Bill that will make trafficking for labour exploitation an offence is currently in Parliament.
Because of this, only women who have been trafficked into prostitution in the UK may be admitted to the POPPY Project shelter run by Eaves Housing for Women. Located in London, it is funded by the Home Office. As a result, there are quite strict criteria for women who may be admitted. A woman must have forcibly worked in prostitution in the UK and been referred within 30 days of her having escaped or having been found. Also, if she wishes to stay longer than four weeks, she needs to agree to co-operate with the police.
Eaves wants to have the criteria expanded to include all forms of trafficking and to be open to women who reach them after 30 days. This time limit is particularly difficult, as it is dependent on women being able to reach them relatively quickly, overcoming significant obstacles.
Most are referred by police, social services, immigration, women’s aid projects and other bodies that come into contact with trafficked women. But some have managed to escape and have found their own way there, or been told about the shelter by men who use them or by maids in brothels – but these are rare exceptions.
As is the situation with CAST, Eaves is working at capacity. The shelter can accommodate 25 women, but as Poppy Team Leader Deborah Finding explained, “we need more beds .… recently we had 10 referrals, five met the criteria, but there was only one space.” When the shelter opened, most of the women came from Albania, Moldova and Romania. Now, the majority are from Ukraine, Lithuania and Nigeria. If the project cannot take the women, they are referred to other shelters and Eaves provides specialist outreach help.
Women are referred from all over the country, although most are in London. But, “there need to be similar shelters outside London — Birmingham, Cardiff, Manchester and other cities which also have a big problem with trafficking”, Finding said.
Unlike CAST’s shelter, Eaves houses the women in separate locations across London, in flats or houses that shelter other women victims of abuse. This, Finding says, not only makes it harder for the traffickers to find them, but also, when women are testifying in court, it protects their evidence. They are also housed in areas far from where they were being prostituted. They, however, come together for English and self-defence classes, and other courses that Eaves provides to help them build their independence.
The time women stay in the shelter varies. “Technically, women may stay for four weeks; if they are co-operating in a prosecution it’s 16 weeks. But realistically it is longer because they have no other access to support or funds”, Finding said. Specialist shelters are a crucial component in working against this abuse, providing protection and support for trafficked people.
Both organisations felt it important that governments not link access to the shelter and services with agreeing to co-operate in an investigation. “In what other crime would the victim only receive help if she co-operated?” Finding asked.
For more information about CAST see http://www.castla.org and for Eaves’ trafficking project http://www.poppyproject.org
If you would like to take action calling on members of the Council of Europe to ensure the European Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings has measures protecting victims of trafficking at its heart, see http://www.antislavery.org “campaigns” or contact Anti-Slavery International’s Campaign Officer Sarah Williams on s.williams@antislavery.org
A similar version of this article appeared in Anti-Slavery International’s July Reporter
Anti-Slavery International: Today's Fight for Tomorrow's Future http
Please also see:
US Government Trafficking in Persons Report
http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2004/
European Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings
http://www.coe.int/T/E/human_rights/trafficking/1_Overview/PDF_Fact_sheet_convention_Trafficking.pdf
Abducted, beaten and sold into prostitution: two women's story from an Iraq in turmoil http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=544122