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Recent estimates from the European Statistics Agency show that 65% of victims of trafficking registered in the EU, are themselves EU citizens. Concerns are beginning to be raised about the reinstatement of Immigration controls between the UK and Europe, and their likely impact on the identification, mobility and protection of people trafficked into the UK.
Research conducted by Katerina Hadjimatheou, Research Fellow Interdisciplinary Ethics Research Group, University of Warwick and Jennifer Lynch, Early Career Research Fellow, University of Hertfordshire, indicate that migration enforcement controls and increasingly tough border patrols are such that identification of victims is marginalised.
‘Officers looking to exclude as many illegal migrants as possible can end up focusing too much on the credibility of the travellers’ stories and not enough on their vulnerability. The consequences of the misidentification of victims of trafficking as illegal migrants can be detention, deportation and re-trafficking.’’
In anticipation of changes to Immigration and Border controls once Brexit is activated, the research calls for a broader and more evidence-based understanding of the drivers of human trafficking into the UK than heretofore.
Full article at:
http://theconversation.com/how-brexit-border-debate-could-affect-human-trafficking-into-uk-73547
Additional Research data available at:
https://ec.europa.eu/anti-trafficking/sites/antitrafficking/files/eurostat_report_on_trafficking_in_human_beings_-_2015_edition.pdf
http://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/publications/national-referral-mechanism-statistics/676-national-referral-mechanism-statistics-end-of-year-summary-2015/file
Prepared by Anne Kelleher, RENATE Communications.
65% of victims of trafficking registered in the EU are themselves EU citizens (European Statistics Agency)