‘Delays are silent killers’ Survivors speak out
Over 120,000 people on any one day in the UK live in slavery, and ATLEU is the only UK charity dedicated to providing them with specialist legal advice and representation. Last week we held an event, hosted by Blackstone Chambers, to talk about how we use the law to secure safety, rights and justice for survivors of human trafficking and slavery.
Our Director, Victoria Marks, spoke about our decade of work to remove the family worker exemption which allowed employers to get away with paying their live-in domestic workers little or no wages. Our Policy Manager, Kate Elsayed-Ali, spoke about our work to expose the risks of tied visas, including our current challenge to the seasonal worker visa.
However, both spoke about the importance of remembering the human beings at the centre of these policies. We still see little representation of people with lived experience of forced migration and trafficking in positions of power and influence in civil society. Yet we believe this is essential if we are to achieve sustainable and humane change to our immigration law and policy.
This was demonstrated when the highlight of the evening came from members of our Lived Experience Group, ATLEU Changemakers, who discussed the problems that need to be fixed to create a more fair, compassionate and efficient system:
Rigid visa restrictions
Our Changemaker came to the UK on a domestic work visa, which allows her to work in a private household as a childminder. When she lost her job, she was not allowed to apply for any other type of work. This made her vulnerable to her employers and left her at risk of being exploited again. We want the rules and laws to be made flexible to benefit survivors and the country.
Delays and long waiting periods
Some survivors wait two, three, ten, or twenty years without any feedback, and while waiting, they are not allowed to work to support their families. When they are denied the right to work, it can trigger mental health issues because they cannot provide for or protect their families. Delays are silent killers. We want survivors to be able to work, have faster decisions about their cases and for them to be made aware of the steps and timelines involved.
Other changes included having more legal advice to guide survivors through the process; improved training for caseworkers so that they can provide better support; and investing in English language courses and vocational training to help survivors adapt to life in the UK.
At ATLEU, we work with survivors to transform their lives to improve the system as a whole. We would like to thank Blackstone Chambers for giving our Changemakers the platform to share their experiences.
As a small charity, our partners are vital to all that we achieve and we are always looking to grow our network. If you would like to support our work, in any way, then please get in touch.