Commission

trafficking were not acted upon. Critically, many victims interviewed by FairWork found the blurring
of roles between law enforcement and labour inspection to be an obstacle to engagement. Many
victims did not know the difference between the labour Inspectorate and police, and would refer to
labour inspectors as “police” or “the inspectorate police”.
In Romania, victim detection and identification usually takes place during dedicated inspections or
raids organised by police and/or labour inspection at a suspected place or in known places. The
inspections are usually reactive, not pro-active, following a complaint being filed. The Labour Inspectorate
does not have in its mandate the investigation of forced labour. During inspections they
are therefore accompanied by the local police and if they discover a case of trafficking for labour
exploitation then the specialised police take up the investigation.
None of the victims interviewed who had returned to Romania after being trafficked for labour
exploitation abroad were identified during their exploitation. In many cases of Romanians trafficked
abroad the identification took place after they managed to escape from the trafficking situation,
after return, and in some cases, many years after the exploitation. The failure to identify victims was
partly attributed to a lack of trust in authorities by victims, which in some cases was justified – in one
case 17 Romanians were trafficked and exploited in Greece, and when they reported to the police
they were deported with no official investigation or identification.
The Gangmasters Licensing Authority (GLA) in the UK is cited as a model of good practice in labour
inspection and enforcement. It operates a licensing system, whereby licence violations link to
forced labour indicators and violations of licence conditions result in penalties, licence revocation
or criminal proceedings. Whilst its work is impressive, the GLA’s areas of inspection are limited to
agriculture, horticulture, shellfish gathering, and associated food processing sectors. Outside of the
GLA sectors responsibility for inspection has been described as “fragmented” (JRF, 2014, 6). Labour
inspection and enforcement outside of the GLA sectors is spread across a range of regulators for
whom detecting forced labour is not a primary concern, including: the Health and Safety Executive,
Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) national minimum wage teams and the Employment
Agency Standards Inspectorate. As noted above, the UK Immigration Bill currently under discussion
proposes a new coordination mechanism to oversee disparate UK labour inspection agencies. Trafficked
persons interviewed by FLEX called for increased inspection in the workplace in order to gain
information about rights as well as to report abuses.
Normalisation of exploitation creates a barrier to self-identification
In Romania, many of those formerly trafficked persons interviewed who had been trafficked overseas
said that they expected some kind of ‘improper working conditions’ when migrating for work,
but none agreed to exploitation. This could also be reflected in the way Romanians are perceived
in working environments abroad, as willing to accept inferior working conditions and low salaries,
putting them at risk of exploitation and also impeding their self-identification as victims or access
to assistance:
“I thought the conditions may be hard and that I would be paid with just a little more than in Romania
but I never expected or wanted such ordeal” (Interview with trafficked person, Romania, 2015)
There was a sense that exploitation was a question of bad luck rather than a crime. This sense gives
rise to shame and rejection of the victim status. There is also an impression that trafficking only occurs
in illegal and hidden industries whereas most victims are recruited through legal job placement
agencies, and leave with an engagement contract between the work and the recruiter or labour
contract.
CASE STUDY, Romania:
“I expected it to be exploited […] I do not want to hurt anyone. It’s not their fault that I’m unlucky.” (Interview
with trafficked man, Romania, 2015)
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