Abstracts: September 2005  

02-Sep-05
New team targets people-trafficking

• "New team targets people-trafficking" The Scotsman. Sept. 2, 2005. http://news.scotsman.com/
  latest_scotland.cfm?id=1881212005

06-Sep-05
Cops smash East European vice ring in London

• "Cops smash East European vice ring in London" Life Style Extra. Sept. 6, 2005. http://www.lse.co.uk/ShowStory.asp?story=
  BZ617322T&news_headline=cops_smash_east_
  european_vice_ring_in_london

12-Sep-05
Vietnamese immigrant children in desperate straights in the UK

• "Vietnamese immigrant children in desperate straights in the UK" Thanh Nien News Sept. 12, 2005. http://www.thanhniennews.com/overseas/
  ?catid=12&newsid=9136

16-Sep-05
Jail for human trafficker kingpin

• "Jail for human trafficker kingpin" BBC News. Sept. 16, 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/
  london/4254022.stm

16-Sep-05
CPS continues fight against sex trade traffickers

• "CPS continues fight against sex trade traffickers" Crown Prosecution Service. Sept. 16, 2005.
  http://www.cps.gov.uk/news/pressreleases/145_05.html

18-Sep-05
Disgraced sheriff admits paying for sauna

• "Disgraced sheriff admits paying for sauna" The Scotsman. Sept. 18, 2005. http://www.scotsman.com/?
  id=1957462005

18-Sep-05
Grim tide of young sex slaves

• Paterson, Billy. "Grim tide of young sex slaves" Sunday Mail. Sept. 18, 2005.  http://www.sundaymail.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=
  16144981&method=full&siteid=64736&headline=
  grim-tide-of-young-sex-slaves--name_page.html

20-Sep-05
Brother and sister jailed for sex-trafficking

• Fletcher, Marie. "Brother and sister jailed for sex-trafficking" ic South London. Sept. 20, 2005.
  http://icsouthlondon.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news
  0200southlondonheadlines/tm_objectid=16150010&
  method=full&siteid=50100&headline=brother-and-
  sister-jailed-for-sex-trafficking--name_page.html

23-Sep-05
Slavery is no longer black, white

 

• Hendricks, Lance Cpl. R. Drew "Slavery is no longer black, white" US Marine Corp. Sept 23, 2005.
  http://www.marines.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf
  /0/3CC7B1F636B01BDB852570850069642B?opendocument

30-Sep-05
'Sex slaves' rescued in massage parlour raid
According to this article:

19 Eastern European women were rescued from Cuddles massage parlour by special task force of female officers from the West Midlands police during a raid in Birmingham.  Two men and a woman believed to be part of the management were arrested and two apparent customers were detained.  A sawn-off shot gun was recovered.  Police said the women's passports had been taken, they were locked into the parlour to work in the evenings and then taken and locked in a house during the day.  Amnesty International is quoted in the article as welcoming the raid but calling on the British government to do more to protect trafficking victims.  There is no protection in law for trafficking victims who are classed as illegal immigrants and deported.

Quote:
"Most are deported without any care or support or assessment of the risks they face if sent back... Communities might not want these women back if they know what has happened to them and there is evidence of people being re-trafficked." "If you deport them very quickly and arbitrarily, you are simply throwing them back into the fire." - Sarah Green, Amnesty spokeswoman

• "'Sex slaves' rescued in massage parlour raid" Telegraph. Sept. 30, 2005.
  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=
  /news/2005/09/30/ubrothel.xml&sSheet=/portal/
  2005/09/30/ixportaltop.html

30-Sep-05
Sex Trafficking: Amnesty welcomes Birmingham police crackdown, but UK must do more to protect victims
Full text of Amnesty International news release published on 30th September, 2005:

Reacting to the news of West Midlands police raids on a brothel in Birmingham last night, Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said: “Amnesty welcomes the West Midlands police crackdown on traffickers and their vicious trade in women who are held prisoner and forced to work as prostitutes. "But the UK needs to protect the victims of this brutal industry as well as catching the traffickers." "At the moment these women have no guaranteed protection in the UK. The law treats them as illegal immigrants and people in the UK would be appalled to know that many of them are just deported. They are then at serious risk of re-trafficking.

"There are actions we can take to give these women protection. "The European Convention Against Trafficking guarantees emergency housing and medical care for victims and gives them a month to recover from the trauma and make some decisions about what they need to do next.

"Victims of trafficking have had all of their very basic human rights violated – we must turn the system around so that they are recognised as the victims and not the perpetrators of crime. The UK government must sign up to the new European Convention."

Four leading UK charities (Amnesty International, Anti-Slavery International, the National Federation of Women's Institutes and UNICEF UK) are calling on the UK government to sign up to the new European Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings.

Although trafficking for sexual and labour exploitation are criminal offences in the UK, the government has failed to develop comprehensive measures to protect and support people who have been trafficked into the country. Signing up to the European Convention will help guarantee this vital protection.

Home Office research estimated that up to 1,420 women were trafficked into the UK for sexual exploitation in 2000 (1). Trafficked women and girls, from countries including Moldova, Romania, Albania, Thailand and Nigeria have been forced to work as prostitutes in London (2). Victims of trafficking are tricked or violently coerced into leaving their homes.

Maria, a Ukrainian woman, left her country to work in Italy to raise money for her daughter’s education. When her visa ran out she met a man in Italy who said that he could arrange work for her in the UK. She entered the UK with him, but once she arrived here she was beaten, raped and forced into prostitution. She was sold three times while in the UK and was made to work in various parts of London.

The new European Convention Against Trafficking guarantees trafficked people: a breathing period (‘reflection period’) of at least 30 days during which they can receive support to aid their recovery, including safe housing and emergency medical support temporary residence permits for trafficked people who may be in danger if they return to their country, and/or if it is necessary to assist criminal proceedings.

Currently the only support that exists in the UK is available only to women trafficked into prostitution and prostituted in the UK. The Home Office funds the London-based Poppy Project, but only for 25 places, with access provided under narrow criteria and dependent on the woman's agreeing to co-operate in an investigation or prosecution; demand for spaces exceeds supply. There is still no safe house for children that have been trafficked.
 

• "Sex Trafficking: Amnesty welcomes Birmingham police crackdown, but UK must do more to protect victims" Amnesty International. Sept. 30, 2005
  http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news/press/16458.shtml

30-Sep-05
Police free 19 in massage parlour raid
According to this article:

19 women were rescued by West Midlands police during an early morning raid on the Cuddles massage parlour in Birmingham.  The women were from Latvia, Japan, Hong Kong, Italy, Greece, Turkey and Poland.  The women's passports had been taken and they were locked into the parlour at night and kept captive during the day.  Three men and an English woman were arrested on suspicion of the management of prostitution. 

• "Police free 19 in massage parlour raid" ITN. Sept. 30, 2005.
  http://www.itn.co.uk/news/13714.html