United Kingdom, 20 October 2006. The Joint Committee on Human Rights in the United Kingdom has released its Twenty-Sixth Report. This report deals with the issue of human trafficking. The Committee views this as mostly a criminal activity but also one that brings many obligations for human rights, creating a need for the government to combat the crime of trafficking and to assist the victims. The Report lists three main obligations of the UK under the European Convention on Human Rights: to prohibit and prevent trafficking and related acts; to investigate, prosecute and punish traffickers; and to protect victims of trafficking. There was an additional Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings adopted by the Council of Europe in May 2005, but the UK has not signed it. The Report reviews the Convention and explains why it should be signed.
The Report also reviews the UK’s current programs to prohibit trafficking, and while giving credit to the government for its work thus far, the Report points out that they are still far from adequate and needs to put the protection of the victims first. Some suggestions for achieving this are establishing a national identification and referral system, better training, more comprehensive and financially supported program to assist victims, and to give more assistance in re-integration for victims that have returned to their home countries.
This report is available in full here.
Compiled from the United Kingdom Parliament, Joint Committee on Human Rights Twenty-Sixth Report Summary, available http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt200506/jtselect/jtrights/245/24503.htm.