Resources

For many survivors of human trafficking, recovery does not begin

The Immigration and Asylum Bill published yesterday will significantly weaken the UK’s response to trafficking and modern slavery. It will deny protection, support and recovery to many survivors. It penalises survivors for their trauma by setting arbitrary deadlines for disclosure of painful experiences. This approach punishes survivors, will embolden traffickers and in doing so enable exploitation to thrive.

Alongside Freedom from Torture (FfT), we have succeeded in our legal challenge to the changes made by the Home Office to its 'Allocation of Asylum Accommodation' policy. These changes, introduced in February 2024, forced survivors of trafficking, torture and other serious forms of violence to share rooms with strangers.

After years of campaigning, the Home Office has for the first time published its own data confirming that hundreds of child refugees arriving in UK alone are being wrongly treated as adults, with devastating consequences. These children are routinely placed in adult accommodation, immigration detention and even adult prisons.

Today's King's Speech confirmed what we feared: another Immigration and Asylum Bill, another year of policies that will make life harder for the people who need protection the most. Over the past decade, the UK has introduced new immigration or asylum legislation almost every year, yet fundamental problems remain unresolved.

The Home Office has updated its Modern Slavery guidance to clarify how decision makers in the National Referral Mechanism should consider ‘disclosure’ when and how a potential victim first reveals or reports experiences of exploitation or abuse) when assessing the credibility of a trafficking or modern slavery claim. HBF is extremely concerned about these changes.

People seeking asylum in the UK are often placed in unsuitable Home Office accommodation that harms their physical and mental health. Requests to move are frequently denied, even when supported by strong medical evidence. Decisions rely heavily on desk-based assessments, raising serious concerns about the treatment, safety, and dignity of people fleeing violence and persecution.

The Home Secretary’s announcement that asylum support would be revoked for those who “have the ability to support themselves and have the right to work” (whether they have applied for this permission or have been granted it by the Home Secretary) risks pushing people who simply cannot work at that point in their lives towards homelessness, poverty and losing access to vital legal aid. This is particularly concerning for those who are traumatised or disabled, or who lack relevant skills and experience and cannot find appropriate employment

Despite the government’s manifesto pledge to “uphold human rights and international law,” its recent proposals include the dilution of the protections offered by both Article 3 (protection from torture, inhuman or degrading treatment) and Article 8 (the right to private and family life) of the ECHR, on the basis that those protections are being used to ‘frustrate’ immigration and deportation decisions. This Human Rights Day we call for leadership that strengthens rights, not weakens them.

The government's new measures will not deter people seeking safety from coming to the UK but will instead significantly harm the mental health and social integration of those recognised as needing protection in this country. These are men, women, children and families who have fled war, conflict, torture, trafficking, persecution and extreme cruelty. At a point when they most need safety and security, they will be left in a state of ongoing limbo and anxiety about being removed from the country, even once they have been recognised as refugees, and made to wait for over twenty years before they can settle here. Many will be denied the right to reunite with their children and other family members.

25 years ago, the landmark Palermo Protocol provided what is considered to be the ‘gold standard’ definition of human trafficking and mandated the protections and support for victims that governments must provide. It has been signed by over 190 countries. But two and a half decades on, many countries still lack the resources or the political will to enforce anti-trafficking laws effectively and, in the UK, we are witnessing an erosion of protections for victims of trafficking.

Despite going through a complex two-stage system, in 2024 only 4% of non-British nationals who were confirmed to be victims of trafficking were given permission to stay in the UK on that basis. That’s only 176 out of 4,240 people. Over 4,000 adults were refused permission to stay (known as ‘leave to remain’), despite many needing to do so for their safety and recovery and to assist with the prosecution of their traffickers. The situation is no better for children. The government's claim that people are “misusing” modern slavery and trafficking protections to remain in the UK could not be further from the truth.