Slavery still breathes here

A Hull University researcher is exposing case studies in Britain to change future legislation

It is estimated that there could be as many as 800,000 unregistered migrant workers in Britain.
Many of them could be classed as "modern slaves" because of the appalling terms and conditions in which they are forced to live and work.
The figure includes at least 5,000 child sex workers, like a 14-year-old African girl who was lured to London with the promise of "domestic work".
"She was met by three men, who beat her up and raped her for just under a year, and when she became pregnant they took her to Sheffield and abandoned her in the city centre," says Dr Mick Wilkinson, from his office in Hull's historic High Street.

Intimidation

Mick (pictured above) is a senior researcher at the Wilberforce Institute for the study of Slavery and Emancipation (WISE), which is part of Hull University.
During his research, he compiled detailed case studies, including one of a Latvian woman in her 20s, who was trafficked from London to Hull by gang masters.
They charged her £50 per week to sleep on the floor in a room with two men she had never met.
Each day she was driven to South Yorkshire, where she worked a night shift in a factory. When the shift was over, she was allowed to sleep for two hours in a car before being made to work another eight-hour shift.
"Double shifts are common, but workers only get paid for one," says Mick.
"We've seen people working 70 hours a week for £50.
If they complain, they're told they'll have their legs broken or that their families back home will be harmed."

Loss of dignity

Mick's research also found the existence of "hot-bedding", when migrants are forced to live so close together that workers who are returning home from a night shift get into the same beds slept in by day-shift workers who have just got up to go to work.
"In terms of people's personal dignity, this is absolutely appalling," says Mick.
"We've seen six mattresses in a two-bedroom house in Hull and 12 people living there.
"Just as young people in this country emigrate to Australia, Canada or the USA searching for a better life, migrant workers come here, but many find themselves trapped when gang masters confiscate their passports."

Trapped

Mick works in the Contemporary Slavery Unit at WISE.
His research, carried out with colleague Professor Gary Craig, in conjunction with Anti-Slavery International, is considered to be the most comprehensive study ever carried out into modern slavery in Britain.
"It's very difficult to compile precise statistics, but it's estimated that, on top of the 1.4 million migrant workers who are registered in Britain, there are between 300,000 and 800,000 unregistered migrants.
They are at risk from extreme forms of exploitation."
Mick has accessed migrant workers directly by approaching agencies and organisations such as advice projects and church drop-in centres.
He found that many migrants enter the country legally from countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America, but then are duped by agents into forced labour in areas such as agriculture, construction, cleaning and domestic work, food processing and packaging – as well as sexual exploitation.
"In eastern Europe and China, people often pay as much as £800 to gangs to find them work here.
"But when they arrive, they are told they have been passed to a new gang and that they must pay more money, so they are immediately in debt bondage.
"Because they feel intimidated and don't understand their full rights, they work their fingers to the bone, but if they get close to paying off the debt the gang master lays them off for a while.
"They have no money for a ticket home and because of language problems and a distrust of the authorities, they have nowhere to turn."

Breaking the chains

On the back of the research, WISE wants to influence new legislation to help free unregistered migrant workers from inhumane conditions.
"There's no point in doing the research unless policy makers take it into account," says Mick.

Mick and fellow researchers want to see:

• Proper resources for enforcement agencies, such as the Government-run Gangmasters Licensing Authority, which was set up to curb the exploitation of workers.
• Training and awareness to identify slavery conditions for agencies including local authorities, housing associations, church groups and trade unions.
• A national public awareness campaign.
• Government agencies treating trafficked people as victims, not criminals.

info

The WISE research, 'Contemporary Slavery in the UK', was funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, a charity that researches into the causes of social difficulties. For more information, visit www.hull.ac.uk/wise * or www.jrf.org.uk *

Want to do something positive?

Go to www.wilberforce2007.com * and sign the petition that campaigns against the world's slavery today. Want a petition form sent to you? Ring 300300. For more information about modern slavery see page 14.