Gender and the Law - Coursework Example

New Project Contents Introduction 3 Brief Overview of Human Trafficking in UK 4 Analysis of the Past Legal Actions 5 Reflex 5 Operation Pentameter 6 Pentameter 2 6 The Sexual Offences Act 2003 7 Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc) Act 2004 7 Government’s Strategy 2011 8 Analysis of the Current Legal Actions 8 Modern Slavery Bill 8 Conclusion 9 Introduction The world of the 21st century is a civilized place, which is continuously progressing forward on the lines of steady change and continuous development. The incremental as well as radical innovations that has been happening in the domains of communications and connectivity technology since the beginning of this century has played a major role in transforming the globe, and improving the living standards of the masses. It is important to state that the forward march of digital technology has transformed the world into a well connected single entity, which allows free flow of information across multiple geographical borders. The easy availability of information by the masses around the world has helped in the spreading of awareness in regards to their individual rights. It has to be said that, today, armed with technology and knowledge, masses from various corners of the world are raising their voices against oppression, torture and other societal evils and are aggressively playing an active world in developing a balanced, crime free, peaceful and sustainable world. However, despite the best efforts, societal evils like domestic violence, torture, drug abuse and human trafficking continues to exist even today in various countries around the world. A serious concern is human trafficking, which is an international crime, existing across many countries, and is done with the main intention of exploiting human beings for profit1. This particular assignment focuses on highlighting the legal actions adopted by United Kingdom in the past as well as the present times to address the concerns of modern day human trafficking. Brief Overview of Human Trafficking in UK The human trafficking segment of the UK region is very covert in nature. As a result, it often becomes very difficult to have the correct statistics on the number of people which often includes adults and children are being trafficked to or within the UK for meeting the demand of sexual or labor related exploitation. In March 2013, the Centre for Social Justice Slavery Working Group while drawing light on modern day slavery in UK said that because of the highly clandestine nature of working of the human trafficking industry of UK, a large number of cases are never recognized or reported as a crime. As per an estimate of 2009, provided by the Home Affairs Committee, around 5000 human were trafficked in the UK2. The estimate given by Association of Chief Police Affairs in the August 2010, pegged the number of women trafficking victims, to around 2,6003. The report also highlighted that the majority of the women victims were trafficked from China and have been subjected to prostitution4. A report by BBC revealed that as of 2013, there has been a 53% rise of human trafficking for sexual exploitation within the UK region itself on a year on year basis5. A policy report provided by the Slavery Working Group revealed that the trafficking victims are subjected to various forms of modern day slavery that exists in the UK region. The chart below classifies the different exploits of trafficked victims in the UK region. 6 Analysis of the Past Legal Actions In order to counter the growing cases of human trafficking, the UK government had taken a lot of legal actions over the years7. Reflex The UK government formed the multi agency response, Reflex in the year 2001. This move of the UK government was taken as a response to the deaths of 58 immigrant victims in a lorry in Dover. Talking in a little elaborate manner, it can be said that the Reflex was conceptualized to tackle immigration related crime in the UK as well as North Ireland Region. The unit is led by the National Crime Squad and comprises of a strong network of police, immigration services, security and intelligence agencies as well as Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). One of the key areas of focus of Reflex is to strongly counter the immigration aspects of human trafficking8. Operation Pentameter The Operation Pentameter is a move of the UK government, which has been formed on the lines of the Reflex Initiative. Launched in February 2006, this particular operation included police forces of England, Scotland, Wales, Channel Islands and Ireland. It also included various governmental agencies like United Kingdom Immigration Service, Crown Prosecution Service, the Serious and Organized Crime Agency along with multiple non governmental agencies. The focus of the operation comprised of spreading awareness of trafficking, improving intelligence against organized criminal groups as well as rescue of trafficking victims. It is important to highlight that the operation executed over a three month period resulted in the rescue of 84 women along with the arrest of over 232 people9. Pentameter 2 The Pentameter 2, started in October 2007, was a successor of the previous Operation Pentameter10. Working with the similar set of resources like the previous one, the Pentameter 2 was executed to achieve the objectives laid down by the UK Action Plan on Tackling Human Trafficking. It has to be highlighted that as a result of this operation, 167 victims were rescued and over 500 criminals were arrested11. The Sexual Offences Act 2003 To deal with the issues of human trafficking, the UK government also passed the Sexual Offences Act in the year 2003. This act had the clause of dealing with trafficking in the UK for sexual exploitation. Explaining in details, it can be said that under this particular act, the UK government holds the right to bring criminal charges against a person who has been intentionally engaging in the human trafficking trade in UK. According to this act, the range of punishment can vary from a imprisonment period of 6 months to 14 years12. Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc) Act 2004 Apart from the Sexual Offences Act, the UK government passed the Asylum and Immigration Act in the year 2004 to combat human trafficking13. This particular act addresses the aspect of human trafficking for exploitation purposes. This act empowers the UK government to bring criminal charges against a person, the punishment of which can vary from 1year to 14 years14. Government’s Strategy 2011 In the year 2011, the UK government adopted a centralized strategy to tackle the human trafficking trade happening in the UK region. According to this strategy, the victim care arrangement was the central focus of the UK government to combat human trafficking. Also, the government had the intention of strengthening adult care arrangements, with supportive collaboration with other specialist care providers. As a part of the strategy, the government planned to coordinate with the border and policing law enforcement protocols so as to restrict international traffickers entering the UK market15. Analysis of the Current Legal Actions In November 2013, the discovery of a modern day slavery incident where three women of varying ages were imprisoned for 30 years in a London property triggered a strong action of legal nature from the government authorities of UK16. Home Secretary, Theresa May, revealed that from the year 2014, the UK government is introducing a Modern Slavery Bill in to effect. Modern Slavery Bill Elaborating in greater details, it can be said that the new bill, which is aimed to tackle human trafficking from and within the UK will be the first of its kind in the entire European region. The UK government aims enlist the Bill into the statue book of the parliament, so that future governments can build on the foundations that are being led by the current government so as to attain a modern day society which is free from slavery. Since the modern slavery offences are spread across multiple different Acts, hence, the bill will focus on consolidating and simplifying the offences into a single Act. The draft bill will combine the aspects of human trafficking as well as forced labor and slavery and will merge the multiple acts like S59A Sexual Offences Act 2003, S4 Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of claimants, etc) Act 2004 as well as S71 Coroners and Justice Act 2009. It is important to highlight that the draft bill will aim towards increasing the maximum period of imprisonment from the current 14 years to life imprisonment. The bill also intends to include the perpetrators of human trafficking of either the first degree or the second degree into the life imprisonment frame of punishment. Under the Modern Slavery Bill, the legal authorities also intend to introduce Slavery and Trafficking Prevention Orders (STPOs) as well as Slavery and Trafficking Risk Orders (STROs). The bill also aims to introduce Anti – Slavery Commissioner, since having a senior figure will help in increasing the power of fight against the modern day slavery in the UK. The role of the Anti Slavery Commissioner will be strongly to increase and strengthen the law enforcement efforts to tackle human trafficking. Conclusion By devising a strong Bill to tackle human trafficking, the government of UK is keen to send a anti trafficking message in the domestic as well as international arena that the United Kingdom is not a hospitable and friendly ground to execute operations of human trafficking as well as modern day slavery17. Read More