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Slavery

My Lords, I join in the thanks to the noble Baroness, Lady Howells, for the opportunity again to discuss this vital subject. The debate has brought together many different strands of experience. I was amazed at the historical knowledge and the memory of some of those who spoke. How they remembered the whole history of slavery is beyond me. It was a remarkable tour de force. We have heard how slavery was accepted as a normal fact of life. Many centuries ago some were born to slavery, others to freedom. The noble Baroness, Lady Hooper, told us that we should never forget, that we must remember. The definition of a slave has been given to me as, first, one who is forced to work through mental or physical threat; secondly, one who is owned or controlled by an employer; and, thirdly, one who is dehumanised as a commodity, or bought or sold as property, one who is physically constrained or has had restrictions placed on his freedom of movement. A slave is someone who has lost his right over his own life—and that happened, of course—a chattel to be dispensed with, who could be killed at the whim of the slave owner. Then came the battles of Clarkson, Wilberforce, Equiano, Lincoln and so many others. In their victory, we thought that the battle had been won, that slavery, this evil, was destroyed once and for all. We have been reminded how this evil trade still exists in Burma, north Uganda and other places. Slavery continues today. I have read—I am not sure whether the figure is correct—that 179 million children are denied their total freedom. It is not that they are slaves but that they are employed in the worst possible conditions. Their very childhood has been taken from them. It is a life of misery without any hope for the future. There are so many ways today in which people are enslaved: bonded labour, indebted labour, trafficking, or women in a lifetime of servitude. Twice today the fate of the cockle pickers in Morecambe Bay has been mentioned. I am also reminded of the men brought over some years ago in a refrigerated lorry. Was it60 of them brought out dead after that journey? Let us imagine the desperation of people in that situation. We in our freedom, who are able to breathe easily and freely, cannot imagine their situation. Article 4 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says: "““No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms””." We signed up to this; nation after nation has signed up to it. How can we fulfil this? In some ways, there is direct action that we can take. There are still gaps in our commitment to the Convention on the Rights of the Child; I urge Her Majesty's Government to ratify itin full. I was delighted when we signed up to the European convention against trafficking; now ratification can be only a little way off. We hope that it will be ratified shortly so that it might be enforced thoroughly in Europe. I was delighted about a month ago to understand that we have an action plan against trafficking. We have the plan; all we need now is the action.We look forward to steps being taken to fulfil that plan. I suggest that the definition of slavery is wider than has been suggested today. It comes in many guises, and, as the noble Earl, Lord Sandwich, said, sometimes by restricting the movement of migrant workers we add to that slavery. We can also add to it in the emigration of asylum seekers. In that regard we could, in the UK Borders Bill, remove Section 9 of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants) Act, which leads people into destitution and total poverty. The section was trialled in three areas, and I believe that it has now been withdrawn. The whole section should be withdrawn, because destitution and poverty lead to slavery. For those in poverty and slavery there is no choice or freedom, just a daily battle for basic survival. Surely we in the United Kingdom can do better. We know that war enslaves not only nations but individuals; survivors whose lives are shattered are enslaved in this way. Ignorance also enslaves, as does the illiteracy of people who cannot communicate—people who cannot correspond or absorb information. So many doors are closed to them. The mind is enslaved—there is that sort of slavery. Of course, we know how illness, especially in Africa, enslaves people in so many ways. In the UK, the lack of basic provision such as housing, health and more makes slaves of otherwise free people. We can congratulate ourselves on having come a long way since 1807, but we have not come all the way. There is a tremendous amount yet to be done, not only in direct action on slavery but in tackling other problems, such as poverty and illiteracy, which enslave people.