In the Dock

• Take necessary and available steps in order to secure relevant evidence.• Promptly and reasonably expedite enquiries.• Urgently respond where a trafficked person is in a harmful situation and there is availability forremoval.• Cooperate effectively with relevant authorities of other States where trafficking investigationoccurred outside their territory.• Investigate in a manner which is capable of leading to the identification and punishment of theperpetrators – an obligation not of results but of means.• Involve the trafficked person or the next of kin in the procedure to the extent necessary tosafeguard their legitimate interests.• Investigation is not dependent on a victim/ next-of-kin complaint to commence an investigation– once the matter has come to the attention of the authorities they must act of their ownmotion.The research indicated that failure to investigate is not uncommon. This is particularly true with regardto domestic servitude, as service providers and legal practitioners reported that they struggled to getthe police to investigate this type of exploitation. With respect to diplomats who traffick domesticworkers, their diplomatic immunity continues to shield them from prosecution thus perpetuatingimpunity across this group.During the research, the ATMG was made aware of two ongoing actions against the police that wereunderway for failure to investigate allegations of domestic servitude. One of the cases concernsbreaches in 2010 and 2012, where it was alleged that there was a failure to identify child traffickingdue to: an incorrect understanding of the nature and constituent elements contained within traffickingoffences, a complete failure to understand that in the context of trafficking a minor is unable toconsent to their exploitation, and a failure to consider and pursue evidence to support a prosecution.At the time of publishing, the charity Liberty states that it intends to represent another victim ofdomestic servitude to pursue a civil claim against Hertfordshire Police. In this case, concerningphysical and sexual abuse, Liberty alleges that the woman’s account was not taken seriously and wasnot adequately investigated. Most concerningly the police took the victim back to their exploiter. 177Again, evidence to prove intention to exploit prior to bringing her to the UK could not be substantiatedin this case.Some participants stated that there is a tendency to prioritise certain cases, such as trafficking forsexual exploitation. Prioritisation breaches the positive obligations set out in OOO as they refer to alltypes of trafficking. This may be due to more experience and confidence in dealing with sex traffickingwithin police forces, or due to the view that sex trafficking is more harmful than other forms ofexploitation. The media may support such views, as one law enforcement practitioner said:“… peoples’ initial reaction is that sexual exploitation is quite horrific, therefore if you have to prioritise thenthat’s where the resources go. It’s not quite as attention grabbing when you say these people were forcedto work in a field for 16 hours a day - it isn’t as exciting as this woman was made to have sex with 16 men aday. To get public support and therefore government support, if you focus on the headline one, you canthen start looking at the others.”Implementing investigative obligationsSome positive developments in police practice were noted resulting in landmark cases such as thefirst conviction for trafficking out of the UK under s. 59 of the SOA in R v Anthony Harrison 178 (seeOperation Quartzire below) and a conviction for the exploitation of British nationals in R v John and177BBC News, ‘Man jailed for abuse of 'enslaved' woman in London’ 16 May 2013 [online]. Available at:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-22552912 [last accessed May 2013].178R v Anthony Harrison at Woolwich Crown Court, July 2011.50