140 Indians Referred as Potential Trafficking Victims in UK in 2017: Report

The number of Indian citizens who are potential victims of trafficking and modern slavery in the United Kingdom saw a rise, pushing the country to the ninth rank in the list released by UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) on March 26. The figures rose from 100 in 2016 to 140 in 2017.

These figures include 90 Indian citizens for labor exploitation, 25 for domestic servitude, 18 for sexual exploitation and seven categorized as unknown exploitation, the Hindustan Times reported. This list is topped by the United Kingdom, followed by Vietnamese and Albanian nationals, as per the NCA’s end-of-the-year summary. The numbers from the United Kingdom were a whooping 819, which is more than double of the 326 people referred in 2016.

The figures include victims from at least 116 different nationalities. The overall number rose by a third in 2017 from 2016. The other nationalities mentioned in the report, apart from India, were China, Nigeria, Romania, Sudan, Eritrea Poland and Pakistan.

Two agencies and 90 charity organizations deal with the victims of modern slavery and trafficking. Many victims are brought to the United Kingdom under the “domestic workers in a private household visa,” according to the NCA’s modern slavery trafficking unit and the Home Office — the government agencies that look into the issue.

“What this report reinforces is that we are now dealing with an evolving threat. The criminals involved in these types of exploitation are going into online spaces, particularly adult services website, to enable their criminality,” NCA director Will Kerr was quoted as saying by the publication.

“We are also seeing increasing crossovers between slavery and organised immigration crime outside of the UK. Often the same criminal networks are involved in transportation, and migrants themselves are vulnerable to labor and sexual exploitation during their journeys and after,” he added.

“Modern slavery and trafficking are despicable crimes which see some of the most vulnerable people in society targeted by ruthless predators,” Victoria Atkins, the Minister for Crime, Safeguarding and Vulnerability, said in response to the report. “These figures show that more potential victims are being identified and protected thanks to a greater awareness and improved understanding of modern slavery. We are also beginning to see the operational results of the renewed focus on modern slavery, with over 600 live police operations underway.”

When the current UK prime minister Theresa May was the home secretary, she had piloted the Modern Slavery Act, 2015 through Parliament. This Act gave law enforcement agencies more powers to deal with the issue although it has been unclear how the law has helped curb the menace. Anti-slavery activists say the law is yet to make a dent on illicit human trafficking and slavery, Reuters reported.