Women’s equality in the UK – A health check

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to the protection and enforcement of victims’ rights. 20 That a significant proportion of victims
fail to be identified, are held in immigration detention, or are criminalized and held in prison, is
quite contrary to the spirit and intention of the Convention. 21
Much of the positive potential and effect of the Convention is diminished by the weaknesses
of the NRM and the fact that there is no appeals process. The only option for victims of
trafficking is to pursue a complex and costly judicial review of their negative grounds decision
or seek asylum. Moreover, it would appear that a vast majority of these negative decisions
by the Competent Authority, when reconsidered, are changed to positive outcomes prior to
the commencement of judicial review hearings, suggesting that the initial decisions were of
poor quality. 22 In relation to the quality of decision making, the UKBA has developed specific
guidance on gender and trafficking to assist decision makers. However, research 23 on the quality
of decision making in trafficked women’s asylum claims found that despite these policies and
other improvements made in relation to the asylum determination process, no improvements
in decision making were identified and women were routinely refused protection by the UKBA
only to be recognised as needing it on appeal. (See Article 9 for more information) A further
finding of the Anti Trafficking Monitoring Group report, 24 which has continued to be borne out
over subsequent years, was that there appeared to be a disproportionate number of conclusive
grounds decisions for victims of European origin. This disproportionality is exacerbated when in
fact the highest proportion of actual cases are from countries such as Nigeria and Vietnam.
Accessing protection and justice as envisaged by the CoE Convention was already difficult,
stressful and time-consuming, but cuts to legal aid (See Appendix: 28 for further information) are
on such a scale that it is no longer viable for most lawyers to offer legal aid at all. Those few that
still do offer legal aid are heavily over-burdened, resulting in victims receiving a reduced service
and delays that such a time sensitive process cannot afford. Although compensation is available
to trafficked women under the Criminal Injuries Compensation (CIC) Scheme, very few trafficked
women have been able to apply for or receive compensation because legal aid is not available,
even in these complex cases. Moreover there is an increasing tendency to deter CIC cases by
awarding costs against the claimant if they fail to win their claim for compensation. Prostituted
women who are victims of crime can also apply under the Scheme; however, their compensation
will be reduced because of their involvement in prostitution. Lack of knowledge about these
remedies and limited access to legal aid result in them being significantly under used. 25
The Government’s report explains that the UK Human Trafficking Centre has become part of
the Serious Crime Agency. 26 While trafficking must be taken seriously, as indicated above this
approach to address it all as ‘organised crime’ does not represent the range of trafficking and
traffickers’ methods. Merging specialist trafficking interventions with other organised crime
has lost some of the dedicated focus that was beneficial. Another consequence of the focus
on crime is that it is all too common to see victims of trafficking who have been involved in
20. Council of Europe (2005) Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings: Explanatory note, article 1b http://
www.coe.int/t/e/human_rights/trafficking/PDF_conv_197_trafficking_e.pdf
21. Council of Europe (2005) Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings: Explanatory note, article 26 http://
www.coe.int/t/e/human_rights/trafficking/PDF_conv_197_trafficking_e.pdf
22. Hove, S. and Montier, S. (2011) ‘Safety and Support of Victims of Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation in England and Wales’, p.186 in Chandran,
P. (eds) (2011) Human Trafficking Handbook: Recognising Trafficking and Modern-Day Slavery in the UK. London: Lexis Nexis
23. Rights of Women (2010) Measuring up? UK compliance with international commitments on violence against women in England and Wales.
ROW: London http://www.rightsofwomen.org.uk/pdfs/Measuring_up_A_report_by_Rights_of_Women.pdf
24. Anti Trafficking Monitoring Group (ATMG) (2012) All Change: Preventing trafficking in the UK http://tinyurl.com/c6k2uyx
25. Rights of Women (2010) Measuring up? UK compliance with international commitments on violence against women in England and Wales.
ROW: London http://www.rightsofwomen.org.uk/pdfs/Measuring_up_A_report_by_Rights_of_Women.pdf
26. Government Equalities Office (2011) CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women) report. United
Kingdom’s Seventh Periodic Report. GEO: London http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/equalities/international-equality/7thcedaw-report?view=Binary
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