ATLEU response to The New Plan for Immigration
/As a child, Orisa was forced to marry a man much older than her. During the marriage she suffered emotional, physical and sexual abuse. When she eventually ran away, her mother gave her to a man who brought her to the UK and handed her over to a woman she knew as ‘David’s Mum’. Orisa was just 14 years old.
David’s mum forced her into domestic servitude for the next four years, during which she was emotionally, physically and sexually abused. She only recently disclosed that she was forced into prostitution shortly after her arrival in the UK. After escaping, Orisa lived on the streets before meeting her sister in London. It was not until 2016 that she was finally referred into the NRM, and was recognised as a potential victim of trafficking.
After a 20 month delay, the Competent Authority decided that she was not a victim of trafficking. Neither Orisa nor her former representatives were notified of this decision. Orisa only discovered this when her asylum claim was refused the next month.
Following the threat of court action, the Home Office agreed to reconsider and eventually made a positive conclusive grounds decision. However, the following April, Orisa’s asylum claim was refused again. It was during this time that Orisa attempted suicide. She walked in front of cars when thinking about her past experiences, seeing this as a way for her suffering to end.
Orisa was diagnosed with severe PTSD and a major depressive episode. The period of enforced prostitution was particularly shameful for her and the trauma of these experiences affected her ability to accurately recall the full details of the rapes and exploitation that she was subjected to, that would have helped her asylum claims.
After a series of appeals against the asylum decision, Orisa finally secured refugee status, 26 years after she first arrived in the UK.
Modern slavery has no place in the New Plan for Immigration and risks creating policy which overlooks the needs of survivors like Orisa, who are first and foremost, victims of crime. Our response to this plan is informed by our day to day experience working with survivors of trafficking and slavery. Based on the limited information the government has provided, we fear that these proposals, if implemented, will put survivors at a higher risk of detention, exploitation and re-trafficking.
Of particular concern is the requirement that ‘those claiming asylum and their legal representatives act in ‘good faith’ by providing all relevant information in support of their claim at the earliest opportunity’, and the suggestion that a new ‘one stop’ process (see p27) is necessary to require people and their representatives to act honestly and not add claims later. In our experience, many survivors do not initially disclose information about the abuse and exploitation they have suffered. This may be for a number of reasons that include:
Fear of their traffickers. Even after they have escaped many survivors fear reprisals from their traffickers against themselves or their loved ones.
Mistrust of authorities. Survivors often do not disclose sensitive information until they feel safe from their traffickers and immigration enforcement.
Lack of knowledge. Many survivors do not realise that their trafficking history is relevant until this is explained to them or they are directly asked about it.
Poor expectations. Survivors have often been conditioned through past exploitation to accept poor treatment and frequently do not consider they deserve better. They may have been told by their traffickers that no one will help them and they will be punished by authorities if they disclose.
Lack of trust. Survivors can take months or even longer to develop a relationship of trust with the people who are trying to help them.
Trauma. This can profoundly affect both a survivor’s memory recall and their ability to verbalise what has happened to them.
With appropriate support and protection, survivors of modern slavery can play a vital role in bringing the perpetrators of this crime to justice. Instead, all too often, survivors are criminalised and deprived of the support they need. The government’s immigration proposals do not address these failings and ignore the needs of vulnerable survivors, exposing them to even greater risk of harm.
