Johanna Westeson - The ICHRP

Kingdom in 2005, brought by a person for the purposes of working as a prostitute. After
months of repeated rape by the trafficker and his acquaintances, the woman escaped and
applied for asylum. She feared return to Nigeria because, she claimed, she was at risk to be
re-trafficked, either by the same people or by a different gang. She also feared retribution
from members of the gang who had trafficked her, who would not have been reimbursed
for the role they played in her transportation to the United Kingdom. Additionally, the
appellant believed that she would have difficulty in obtaining accommodation and
employment and this would increase the risk of re-trafficking.
As general conclusions, the Tribunal held that
[t]here is in general no real risk of a trafficking victim being re-trafficked on return to
Nigeria unless it is established that those responsible for the victim's initial trafficking
formed part of a gang whose members were to share in the victim's earnings or a
proportion of the victim's target earnings in circumstances where the victim fails to earn
those target earnings. It is essential that the circumstances surrounding the victim's initial
trafficking are carefully examined.
The Tribunal went on to find that there was no evidence that the trafficker and his
acquaintances belonged to a trafficking gang or network. Upon return to Nigeria, the
appellant would be offered protection; there were medical and counseling facilities
available, and, if she was willing to cooperate, Nigerian authorities would also attempt to
track down and prosecute her trafficker. In conclusion, it found that there was no real risk
of re-trafficking. The appeal was dismissed.
Monetary compensation for trafficked persons
In the United Kingdom, a trafficked person may pursue compensation through several
different mechanisms. First, the individual may receive compensation under a
compensation order made by a criminal court upon the conviction of an offender. 708
Second, he or she may receive a compensation award through an application to the
Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA). 709 The scheme provides for two types
of compensation: personal injury awards to victims of crime, and fatal injury awards to
immediate family members of a victim who has died as a result of a violent crime. Third,
the individual may pursue a civil suit directly against her trafficker in court. These
mechanisms are not designed to apply particularly to trafficked persons, but have been
successfully used in that regard. According to reports, in July 2007 the first successful
compensation awards were made to two young Romanian women who had been trafficked
for sexual exploitation, and at least three additional applications have since resulted in
successful outcomes for several other women trafficked for sexual exploitation. 710
6. Concluding remarks
Regarding the response to the phenomenon of human trafficking in the European region,
there is one trend that is clear and uniform: the sense that the phenomenon has to be
urgently counteracted. Anti-trafficking pronouncements and measures have exploded in the
708 Section 130(1), Power of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000.
709 The official website of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority, which administers the scheme, is
found at www.cica.gov.uk. Northern Ireland has its own compensation scheme (Northern Ireland Criminal
Injuries Compensation Scheme) for victims of violent crimes.
710 “Groundbreaking scheme pursuing Criminal Injuries Compensation for female victims of trafficking,”
Changemakers, available at http://www.changemakers.net/node/8451, last visited on 29 December 2009.
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