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Rita (not her real name) arrived from India in 2000, on a domestic workers visa, to work in a house in Kensington, London. Once she arrived, however, her employers confiscated her passport, telling that if she left she'd be arrested. Rita was forced to work from 6.30am to 11.30pm, with one hour off a week. She had to sleep on the kitchen floor, and endured constant verbal abuse. When her employers went out, she was locked in and the phone unplugged. Rita had been promised £150 a week, but on her arrival, her employers told her they'd pay just £75 a month - sent to an account in India. However, it's extremely unlikely any payments were made. Rita finally managed to escape and was helped by Kalayaan.
Source: Kalayaan
Think slavery in Britain is a thing of the past? Think again, says Catherine Francis, as she uncovers an underworld of human trade, and some powerful organisations rising up against it
Workers for sale
If you learned about slavery at school, you'll have heard how, centuries ago, African slaves were kidnapped and transported across the Atlantic to face brutal lives under white 'masters' - and how William Wilberforce helped abolish slavery in Britain in 1807. But if you thought that was the end of the story, you were wrong. The shocking truth is that slavery is still alive and well - and happening in a city near you.
It's 50 years since the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights stated that all human beings are equal, and no person should be a slave to another. But people around the world are still being sold into a life of abuse and misery - and a shocking number end up imprisoned in British homes.
Mende Nazer hit the headlines in 2000 when she escaped from her jailers in London. At the age of 12, Nazer was brutally abducted from her home in the remote Nuba mountains of central Sudan by Mujahidin slave traders who destroyed the village, slaughtering and raping the adults, and kidnapping the children. Nazer was sold to a wealthy family in Khartoum, northern Sudan, where she was kept prisoner and forced to work long hours, for no pay. For seven years, she endured daily verbal and physical abuse. She was locked in the house, had to sleep in a shed, and was fed scraps. At 19, Nazer was passed on to relatives in London, using a falsified visa, where she continued to toil for her new 'masters' - until a chance meeting opened a way for escape.
Nazer's experiences are typical of many modern-day slaves - but only the lucky escape. "The number of people trafficked (transported by threat, deception or force) into the UK are hard to come by, because of its inherently illicit nature," says Sarah Williams, campaigns officer at Anti-Slavery International. "This is especially true of trafficking into forced labour [there has been more research into trafficking for sexual exploitation]. We do know it has increased dramatically since the early 1990s, and hundreds of women and children are trafficked into Britain a year - a conservative estimate based on reported cases."
Typically, domestic slaves may be children and young women from Africa, the Middle East, Asia or Eastern Europe. They may have been kidnapped by force or, more commonly, lured with promises of a good job and better education. They then find themselves sold into slavery - or informed that they owe their traffickers/owners money for transport and subsistence. Working off this 'debt' takes years, and is known as 'debt bondage' or 'bonded labour'.
Men may be put to work in agriculture or construction, while women and children are used for domestic work. Slaves frequently experience beatings and sexual abuse, and are told that if they try to escape, their families will be killed. Children are also used to fraudulently claim benefits, or work as beggars or drug mules. A Metropolitan police investigation found that almost 200 children pass through Heathrow airport every week unaccompanied, or with adults claiming to be uncles or aunts. Many cannot be traced once they enter the country.
Kalayaan, an organisaton which campaigns for overseas domestic workers' rights, has also found that half of all domestic migrant workers legitimately entering the UK have their passports confiscated by their employers. This means they're unable to leave their employer without threat of deportation, and can be pressured to accept bad pay and conditions, sometimes leading to forced labour.
There is no UK legislation protecting workers from having their passports withheld - and if employers claim they're treated as 'part of the family', they're exempt from minimum wage and working time directives. A 2002 Kalayaan survey of overseas domestic workers found 83% were not allowed to leave the house; 69% were physically abused; and 9% were sexually abused.
If slaves manage to escape, their problems are not over. Frequently, they speak little English and have no idea where to turn for help. If they return to their home countries, they'll almost certainly be tracked down and punished or retrafficked, often within hours. But applying for protection in Britain is rarely straight forward.
Nazer's initial asylum claim was refused, for example, on the grounds that her treatment didn't constitute 'persecution', and that she'd be safe to return to Sudan. After an international press campaign led by human rights organisations, the decision was overturned in 2003.
But for victims of slavery without public support, the future is bleaker - applications for asylum are frequently refused.
"Although trafficking for sexual exploitation is an offence, there is no law against trafficking into forced labour in the UK," says Williams. "The Asylum and Immigration Bill [before Parliament at the time of writing, and expected to become law this year] includes provision for trafficking into labour exploitation to be criminalised, which is a welcome step. However, we have concerns about other parts of the Bill, which criminalises people arriving in the UK with false documents, therefore covering many trafficked people." Trafficked people are seen as illegal immigrants rather than victims.
Deborah Finding is a senior support worker for the POPPY Project (part of Eaves Housing For Women), a Home Office-funded project that helps trafficked women. Most of its clients have been forced into prostitution, but a small number have escaped from domestic slavery.
"While women are waiting for a decision on their asylum claim, they may have to sign in regularly at an immigration centre," Finding says. "Here there is the danger they may be seen by someone connected with their traffickers. We request that clients be allowed to remain with us in women-only safe houses during the asylum process, rather than immigration detention centres, where they could be exposed to more danger.
"We'd like to see a less explicit link between protection and prosecution. Women referred to us are funded for an initial four weeks on the project - but that's only extended to 16 weeks if they're willing to assist the police. But [these women are scared] their trafficker will carry out threats against them or their family. Being protected and supported shouldn't be dependent on giving evidence."
Human rights organisations also call for a reflection period, to give victims time to start recovering from their trauma before being pressured to co-operate in criminal proceedings or make any decisions.
UNISON is affiliated to Anti-Slavery International, and encourages members to support campaigns such as the Stop Human Traffic campaign.
"We often think of trafficking and forced labour as something that couldn't possibly happen in the UK," says national black members officer Wilf Sullivan. "The reality is that it's about exploitation, and Britain has many ruthless employers willing to turn their backs while workers from overseas are exploited.
"Our challenge as a trade union is to fight to ensure that the employment rights we've won for UNISON members apply to all workers in this country. The current situation, where workers who are exploited are criminalised as illegal workers, cannot be allowed to continue."
• Anti-Slavery International: 020 7501 8920 www.antislavery.org
• Kalayaan: 020 7243 2942
• The POPPY Project: 020 7840 7955 www.poppyproject.org
• Asylum Aid: 020 7377 5123 www.asylumaid.org.uk
• Refugee Council: 020 7346 6700 www.refugeecouncil.org.uk
• Slave by Mende Nazer and Damien Lewis (£10.99, Virago Press)
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