The United Kingdom (UK) is a destination country for men, women, and children primarily from Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe who are subjected to human trafficking for the purposes of sexual slavery and forced labour, including domestic servitude.
[1] British citizens accounted for 25% (4,299) of all recorded potential victims in 2023, when they represented the most frequently referred nationality.
[2] In 2012 it was ranked as a "Tier 1" country by the US Department of State, which issues an annual report on human trafficking.
[4] The U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons report placed the country in "Tier 1" in 2017[5] and in 2023.
Source countries for trafficking victims in the UK include the United Arab Emirates,[7] Lithuania, Russia, Albania, Ukraine, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, the People's Republic of China (P.R.C.
UK authorities began to launch aggressive anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts to uncover trafficking and identify victims.
Each woman received a suspended sentence, and forfeiture orders were made for cash found at the premises during the raid.
Such an environment, which can isolate domestic workers, is conducive to exploitation because authorities cannot inspect homes as easily as they can compared to formal workplaces.
A woman in the United Kingdom might be recruited by someone who uses physical/sexual violence, deceived into coming to the UK by someone who convinces her she can study or work there, or by someone who has a position of power over her.
It is possible for women who are physically or emotionally harmed to be easily influenced by prostitution enforcers who take control of their vulnerability.
[17] The UK action plan on tackling human trafficking has discovered that many victims arrive into the United Kingdom on inexpensive airlines and often into small airports where there is less security surveillance.
Countries that have very high volumes of traffickers being transited include Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, Poland, and Thailand.
Children from China have the highest proportion of victims according to studies, and travel on different routes before reaching the United Kingdom.
[20] Since the secretive nature of the criminal world, it is hard to tell the true number of victims of human trafficking.
However, it could be said that human trafficking was more prominent in 2019 than it had ever been; the National Crime Agency believed the number of victims is in the tens of thousands within the UK.
[20] In 2019, Chinese, Nigerian and Vietnamese individuals were the most commonly reported nationalised for potential victims of human trafficking.
[18] In 2012, a report showed that most victims being trafficked into the United Kingdom were from China, Vietnam and Eastern Europe.
According to Rosa Silverman, the revenue generated by one sex worker was estimated to be £48,000, therefore, the market is worth tens of millions of pounds in 2013.
Depending on different factors including race, location, and age of the victim, the cost can vary.
In 2007, the UK government launched Pentameter II, a large-scale operation aimed at rescuing victims, disrupting trafficking networks, developing intelligence, and raising public awareness.
[23] In one case in 2008 in the U.K., girls were trafficked for forced prostitution and a man was sentenced to 10 years in prison[29] In January 2008, police arrested 25 members of Romanian organized crime organizations from the Roma ethnic minority using Roma children, including a baby less than a year old, as pickpockets and in begging schemes.
If you are found to be a victim of trafficking, a decision might be made to extend your recovery period, or to grant you a residence permit.
In order to receive compensation through the program, you must report the violence or harm you experienced to the authorities within two years of escaping your situation.
The purpose of this association was to be the main agency for undertaking private prosecutions for human trafficking and alert police of those that broke the new passed Criminal Law Amendment Act.
These acts allowed for women to be isolated in military stations across England and Ireland if they were believed to be involved in forms of prostitution.
It is usually not likely that each officer in a state is properly trained with the knowledge and skills needed in order to handle trafficking victims.
[32] Scottish cities with the highest incidence of trafficking include Glasgow, Stirling, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen.
They were generally introduced to individuals who offered them a job in Scotland and were exploited into sex trafficking once they arrived.