Taking Back Control: Human Rights and Human Trafficking in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Modern slavery and human trafficking are well recognized as significant problems in need of legislation, policies, and actions from a wide range of stakeholders in the United Kingdom. The passage of the UK Modern Slavery Act 2015 is a hallmark of these concerns and has made the UK a world leader in the fight against modern slavery and human trafficking, a legislative development that is in line with the country’s broader formal commitment to the international and European human rights regime. In the post-Brexit period, however, there has been an increasing de jure conflation of modern slavery and human trafficking with efforts to curb immigration, leading to a significant questioning of the UK’s commitment to human rights. This article locates the consideration of human rights and human trafficking within these broader political trends in order to understand the prospects for meaningful measures to combat modern slavery and human trafficking in the future.

Motherhood, Human Trafficking, and Asylum Seeking: The Experiences and Needs of Survivor Mothers in Birthing and Postnatal Care

“…During this project's timeline, both the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 [67] and the Illegal Migration Act 2023 [68] were promulgated in the UK, two acts that have considerations for modern slavery, but in doing so, have come under criticism for severely undermining compliance with international rights obligations. Instead of supporting victims of human rights violations with their physical, psychological, and social recovery [69], they provide for detention and deportation [70]. In developing immigration laws through the acts mentioned above, "issues of modern slavery, human trafficking, and immigration have become further conflated and highly distorted" [69]; for example, those whose enter the UK are an element of the criminal offence of trafficking committed against them [70].…”

“…Instead of supporting victims of human rights violations with their physical, psychological, and social recovery [69], they provide for detention and deportation [70]. In developing immigration laws through the acts mentioned above, "issues of modern slavery, human trafficking, and immigration have become further conflated and highly distorted" [69]; for example, those whose enter the UK are an element of the criminal offence of trafficking committed against them [70]. For our asylum-seeking mothers who have fled terrible situations to settle their families, they already navigate a complex array of provisions in the UK, but with this changing legal environment, the challenges they described facing in seeking a settled family life are likely to be further exacerbated by these bills.…”