Women’s equality in the UK – A health check

6.15
6.16
6.17
6.18
Office’s own figures for those that enter the NRM, which is already not the entirety of trafficking
victims, this would seem to represent a cut of around 60% per head in funding, suggesting that
quality will be reduced.
It is also a matter of some concern that the prime contractors of these support services and
their sub contractors for the most part have little or no expertise or track record in trafficking
and do not operate from a gendered or human rights framework, though they may have on
occasions accommodated some victims of trafficking for a short time. Of greater concern
is the fact that the contractor and sub contractees are for the most part Christian and/or
evangelical religious groups. While of itself this should not necessarily be problematic, victims
of trafficking come from all religions and none. Many will be self-blaming and already feel that
they have transgressed against their own culture and religion. Some will want an abortion
or have had abortions. Some will be lesbians. Many will have complex drug and alcohol and
other challenging and non-conformist behaviours. The danger in having such overwhelmingly
Christian and/or evangelical religious providers is that, whether or not the organisations actually
promote their religion, there is a perception among many women that this is a judgmental and
exclusive service provision that could deter women or in some cases not offer appropriate
support. Finally, there seems to be a lack of transparency with scant information as to what their
service is, what standards they apply, and how the system is working. (See Appendix: 31 for more
information) The Anti Trafficking Legal Project (ATLeP) 31 reports a massive drop in the number
of cases being referred to it, which raises the concern that there is less capacity to proactively
promote victims’ access, enforceability and rights including legal challenges.
There are some useful, if rather piecemeal, measures around trafficking in the devolved nations
though again often delivered through a religious framework. (See Annex 1)
Recommendation:
Undertake research on the extent to which religious delivery can be beneficial
or damaging to the access to, uptake and quality of services provided to women
involved in trafficking and prostitution
Combating human trafficking internationally
International measures still tend to focus on attempting to discourage individuals from coming
to the UK, despite there being little or no evaluation of such campaigns or whether this is the
most appropriate support for developing countries seeking to address trafficking. To the
contrary, in fact there is ample evidence 32 to suggest that the factors that make an individual
most likely to risk all in an attempt for a better life overseas are factors such as inequality and
VAWG, lack of access to education and employment, and extreme poverty. These factors
significantly outweigh the potential scaremongering effect of attempting to deter travel.
Prostitution
Women involved in prostitution suffer a range of complex issues that can lead to high levels of
drug misuse, 33 poor mental health 34 and many have a significant history of sexual and domestic
31. Anti Trafficking Legal Project http://www.atlep.org.uk/ Accessed: 21/03/13
32. See United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) website http://www.unodc.org/nigeria/en/t18-traffickingip.html Accessed:
21/03/13
33. Home Office (2004) Paying the price: A consultation paper on prostitution http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http:/www.
homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/paying_the_price.pdf?view=Binary
34. Department of Health (2002) Women’s mental health: into the mainstream, Strategic development of mental healthcare for women. DoH:
London http://www.nmhdu.org.uk/silo/files/into-the-mainstream.pdf
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