Draft Council of Europe convention on action against trafficking in human beings

26.01.05

Mike made the following speech on the Draft Council of Europe convention on action against trafficking in human beings

Mr HANCOCK (United Kingdom). – Listening to members today, you could be misled into believing that we were talking about a recent phenomenon, but of course it has been with us for thousands of years. Most of us were probably under the misapprehension that we had done away with slavery, but that is what we are talking about. When we talk about bartering or trafficking people it gives credence to this activity as though it were an industry – it is, in a way, but it is an evil, vile industry that exploits, damages and kills people, and we should recognise it for the slavery that it is.

As Kevin McNamara said, trafficking takes many forms. It is an affront and an abuse to bring a Filipina housegirl to work for a rich diplomat in London, or a Sri Lankan from Kuwait to work in the United Kingdom as nothing more than a bonded slave for a very rich family. Who allows that to happen? Who condones it? It is our governments. There is not a capital in Europe that can declare that it is not involved in this trade. Every night of the week in this very city, as Ms Wohlwend said, it is very close to us. In Avenue des Vosges now there are women who have been trafficked, walking the streets. Are we saying that the authorities here do not know what is happening in the home of the European Court, the European Parliament and the Council of Europe?

Some of us here went on a visit and met some of these people. We spoke to them and saw the squalor and the problems that they faced. That was here in the city of Strasbourg, but it is in all our cities. In my city recently, a number of Chinese girls who had come to the UK to be students were exploited. What happened to them? They were sent back, simply to be recycled into the system of exploitation and abuse. What happened to the perpetrator? He got twelve months in prison. When he got out, probably on early release, he was back in the system making a fortune. It is simply not good enough.

By all means let us beef up the convention, but at the end of the day the responsibility lies in the individual parliaments. For many people, this is tantamount to killing someone. I do not know how you think you can rebuild the life of someone who has been traumatised as many of these people have. In my book, it is manslaughter, and the punishment for trafficking, for slave keepers, should be a life sentence and taking away all the wealth that they have made – we do it for drug dealers, so why not for them?

Why have we allowed this to go on for so long? I have tried to encourage the United Kingdom Government to use our anti-slavery laws to tackle the issue, but apparently it is not appropriate. Is it appropriate, when we know that someone is being tormented and their life is being ripped apart by systematic physical, mental and sexual abuse, for us to allow it to go on? Why cannot we as parliamentarians take on this issue properly where it should be tackled, in our individual parliaments? Until we do, the convention can be tightened, but still nothing will happen and girls will still walk the streets of Strasbourg as they will still walk the streets of London.