Propuesta para mitigar los residuos sólidos del suelo de la

The problem of trafficking is compounded due to the difficulty in assessing the definite nature and scope of human trafficking in the UK owing to its hidden nature528. To overcome this, the government of United Kingdom established the UK Human Trafficking Centre (UKHTC) within the Serious Organised Crimes Agency (SOCA). UKTHC is acting as an important source of developing an understanding of trafficking in the UK and is a central repository of information and intelligence on human trafficking529.

525_{Trafficking in Persons Report, 2013, Op cit.}

526_{Modern Slavery Bill 2014-15, the UK Parliament, http://services.parliament.uk/bills/2014-}

15/modernslavery.html, (accessed January 15, 2015).

527 _{Gentlemen, A., Modern Slavery Bill is a Lost Opportunity says Human Trafficking Adviser, The Guardian, 3}rd

November, 2014, http://www.theguardian.com/law/2014/nov/03/modern-slavery-bill-lost-opportunity-human- trafficking-adviser, (accessed January 12, 2015).

528 _{An Evidence Assessment of the Routes of Human Trafficking into the UK (2012), Occasional Paper 103, Home}

Office, http://www.statewatch.org/news/2012/mar/uk-ho-traff-rep.pdf, (accessed October 05, 2012).

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The root causes of human trafficking are related to the socio-economic conditions of the people being trafficked530. Human trafficking in the UK is driven by both supply factors and demand factors. The supply factors include poverty, limited opportunities at home, lack of education, unstable social and political conditions, economic imbalances and war while the demand factor is the demand for cheap labour531. Any combination of these factors may force an individual to seek better employment through migration. This migration renders him/her vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation532.

Gender discrimination, which is entrenched in many societies of the world, is also a major reason for the rise of human trafficking. This discrimination makes women and girls more vulnerable to trafficking. There are a high proportion of women involved in informal and unprotected labour markets. They also have to shoulder the disproportionate burden of caring for children and ageing family members while at the same time bearing gender- based domestic violence533. Although such discrimination within British female society is uncommon many female victims of human trafficking have faced this in their home countries. The changing population demographics of developing countries like the UK requires migrants to fill the gaps associated with an ageing population. There are always financial benefits for employers in hiring undocumented or trafficked workers. Another major reason is the desire for foreign women in the commercial sex industry534.

Human trafficking is also aided by factors such as cheap and easier travel, proliferation of unregulated recruitment agencies, and the existence of large Diaspora communities in the UK. Moreover, the expansion of social media and the internet in remote places of the world has also spread the perception that better living conditions can be availed in certain parts of the world, thereby, helping traffickers to attract vulnerable people to migrate to such developed countries and become exploited535.

530 _{All Change: Preventing Trafficking in the UK (2012), The Anti-Trafficking Monitoring Group,}

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/uploads/documents/doc_22598.pdf, (accessed October 02, 2012).

531_{An Evidence Assessment of the Routes of Human Trafficking into the UK (2012), Op cit.} 532 _{All Change: Preventing Trafficking in the UK (2012), Op cit.}

533 _Ibid. 534 _Ibid. 535 _Ibid.

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The UK Human Trafficking Centre (UKHTC) reported that between April and December 2009 there were 527 cases of potential victims of trafficking which were referred to the NRM536. These 527 individuals belonged to 61 countries with Nigeria (89 people) and China (70 people) leading the pack. The Anti-trafficking Monitoring Group (ATMG) observed that these official figures do not reflect the true extent of trafficking in the UK. There were other potential victims whose cases were not referred to as they were fearful of the consequences of being brought to the attention of the authorities because of their immigration status, leading to a paradoxical situation which is often exploited by the traffickers in controlling their victims537.

ATMG collected information about more than 130 cases between 1 April 2009 and 1 April 2010 whose cases were not referred to NRM. There were various reasons cited for this, but primarily victims were not confident about reporting cases to the authorities because either they did not see any benefit from reporting or they were fearful of the consequences of getting the attention of the authorities.ATMG found flaws in the identification process of victims. The identification of victims is left at the sole discretion of officials who receive minimum training in handling such victims. The following are the excerpts of Competent Authority decisions depicting flaws in NRM practices538:

"Your claim to have been forced to sleep with men against your will, that you were ‘extremely unhappy’ and ‘always crying’ is considered to be inconsistent with your claim not to have taken advantage of the ample opportunity you had to seek help from the police on the numerous occasions you left the house and the occasion when you took the time to visit the police station. Your credibility has been damaged as a result and it is not accepted that you were trafficked to the UK or forced to work as a prostitute by traffickers as you claim".

Even the authorities were not well-versed with the understanding of trafficking. The following quote shows flawed understanding about trafficking:

"Sometimes domestic workers are brought here on false pretences, but they are not illegal. No domestic worker is a trafficked victim, because they are legal. They may be victims of many crimes, abuse, locked in, exploitation, but none had been forced, not

536_{Wrong Kind of Victim? One Year On: An Analysis of UK Measures to Protect Trafficked Persons (2010), Op cit.} 537 _Ibid.

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were brought over under force. Until they come here they don’t run away. They run away here because they want to live a Western life, it is more attractive, more freedom"539. "You have stated that […] your boyfriend ‘forced’ you to have sexual intercourse with other men. You have stated that during this time you were allowed to leave the house to go to the shops. However you made no effort to escape or approach the authorities in the United Kingdom during this time. It is considered that had you been exploited as your claim you would have seized the first opportunity to escape your boyfriend"540.

"It is noted that you have highlighted numerous incidents of non-consensual sex […] and some instants of violence. […] Although this experiences[sic] are extremely unpleasant it is considered that this treatment […] does not amount to trafficking in your case"541_.

"It is acknowledged that you may suffer some longer-term effects as a consequence of the experience you may have had. Ultimately, however, you have been alive for almost […] years, of which […] months you have spent with the previous employer. You have also spent nearly […] months, more than twice the length of your claimed exploitation, free of any restriction on your freedom, in which time you have made friends and had access to the support and assistance provided by" […]542.

"Your account is consistent with that of a person who has been trafficked…..but you have not reached the threshold of reasonable grounds to believe that you are a victim of trafficking for the purposes of the convention"543.

"Even if it was accepted that you had been trafficked from …. To the UK, and held against your will and forced to….it is not accepted that you currently qualify as a ‘victim’ of trafficking for the purposes of the Convention"544.

These decisions of Competent Authorities clearly show that the purpose of the Convention has failed in the case of applicability. The authorities were incompetent to identify the victims of trafficking. The purpose of the Convention is to prevent and combat trafficking, to protect the human rights of victims, and to promote international cooperation against trafficking. The Convention is indifferent as to who gets what sort of assistance, in identifying a victim of trafficking. The Convention is governed by a strict principle of non- discrimination between the victims, but these principles and provisions of the Convention were not applied in a true sense in the cases referred to NRM.

539 _Ibid. 540 _Ibid. 541 _Ibid. 542 _Ibid. 543 _Ibid. 544 _Ibid.

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In the years of the 1990s, claims made by the United Kingdom in combating trafficking came under fire from human rights activists for its failure in the Balkan region in preventing increasing numbers of cases of prostitution and sexual exploitation545. The foreign officials who went to the Balkans to assist the efforts at stability and reconstruction were blamed for having sex with prostitutes, thereby, encouraging human traffickers to supply prostitutes to them through trafficking546. Daffron has reported that there is a large population of Kosovon people in London who control the majority of massage parlours. These people are highly involved in trafficking women from the Balkans into the UK for the purpose of prostitution547. The efforts of government officials in preventing trafficking seemed to be a futile exercise as the number of massage parlours increased and sex commerce became widespread. Police officers outside London were found to be untrained in efficiently tackling issues of human trafficking. Moreover, the extent of the problem was unknown. The government was confused by the illegal nexus between smuggling, illegal immigration and human trafficking548. Anti-trafficking efforts in the UK can become more effective if a victim-focused approach is followed in all areas of human trafficking.

Internal trafficking in the UK has caught the attention of policy makers in the UK. As per the Action Plan submitted in 2007 many respondents were of the opinion that domestic or internal trafficking should be included as a part of anti-trafficking efforts. There are young British girls who are lured with false promises of love and marriage and are later exploited for sexual pleasures. Some of them are even lured into prostitution on the pretext of extra money, but they cannot escape due to the use of violence or coercion549. In January 2006 the UK initiated a coordinated prostitution strategy which required all agencies to work proactively for the reduction of all forms of commercial sexual exploitation. The strategy included both on and off street prostitution. It called for understanding of the link between prostitution in the UK and various other organised crimes550.

545_{Daffron (2011), Op cit.} 546 _Ibid.

547 _Ibid. 548_Ibid.

549_{UK Action Plan on Tackling Human Trafficking (2007), Op cit.} 550 _Ibid.

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