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Anti-Slavery Day Bill

My Lords, this is a propitious day. I see from my diary that on 5 March 1953, Josef Stalin died. I do not know whether that has anything to do with the Bill; if so, I leave it to your Lordships’ imagination. In any event, on behalf of the official Opposition, I welcome the Bill and congratulate its sponsors, the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, and my honourable friend Anthony Steen in another place, on their work in bringing this issue to the fore. This is not to denigrate the activities today of the noble Baroness, Lady Young of Hornsey, in introducing the Bill. I confess that when I first saw that the Bill had been published, I feared that it might be little more than a gimmick, asking for yet another public holiday. On reading the proposals, I soon saw that, thankfully, I was wrong. I now agree that having a national day—like, for example, Commonwealth Day—is an important initiative aimed at raising public awareness of the victims of human trafficking, who sadly and shamefully can be found in communities across the country. I am far from sure, though, that I agree with the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Bradford that 30 July would be a suitable day. Although it would be nice to have church and state conjoined, as he might say, for once, I would be far happier to see a date when Parliament is sitting chosen as appropriate. I suspect that the noble Lord, Lord Roberts of Llandudno, would agree with me. I am concerned that when slavery is mentioned people associate it only, as the noble Lord, Lord Alton, reminded us, with an abhorrent historical practice which is rightly condemned by all. Many people do not realise that 200 years after William Wilberforce succeeded in abolishing legal slavery in Britain, and later across the empire, the practice, as the noble Lord, Lord Soley, said, is not merely still with us but increasingly prevalent, as the noble Baroness, Lady Young, pointed out. I do not—nor, do I think, would any noble Lord—wish to detract from the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade, but I wholeheartedly agree that only by increasing public awareness of slavery in its modern forms can we hope to stamp it out, just as a groundswell of popular revulsion in the 19th century changed not just opinions but the law. Trafficking is a modern form of slavery, increasingly prevalent. It is a serious problem for the UK, which, due in part to our lax border controls, is both a transit and destination country for traffickers. Estimates by the International Organisation for Migration suggest that up to 800,000 people are illegally trafficked across international borders each year. Human trafficking, as the noble Baroness, Lady Young, explained, refers to the transportation of people in order to exploit them by deception, intimidation or coercion. The two main forms of exploitation are labour and sexual exploitation. Trafficking affects men, women and children brought into the United Kingdom to work in the sex industry and as forced labour. Women and girls from eastern Europe, the Far East and Africa are especially vulnerable. I have read the debate on the Bill which took place in another place last month, and read the harrowing stories relayed by honourable Members, which they had encountered in their constituencies and elsewhere. I am sure all noble Lords here today have read that debate or heard of similar experiences. If noble Lords have missed this, they should be left in little doubt about the misery that trafficking can inflict from the speech of my kinsman, the noble Baroness, Lady Nicholson. Sexual exploitation frequently involves women or girls who are trafficked to work as domestic servants. They are often mistreated on arrival, including through physical, sexual and psychological abuse. Many are lured under false pretences and made financially dependent on arrival. In the United Kingdom, exploitation of labour is too common in agriculture, construction, domestic cleaning, contract cleaning and the care sector. Well publicised and tragic examples include the Chinese cockle-pickers who drowned in Morecambe Bay and the lorry full of Chinese workers who were discovered suffocated at Folkestone. We on these Benches have been assiduous, as I hope noble Lords will recognise, in working with other parties in closing loopholes, extending legislation and raising the issue of trafficking where possible. My noble friend Lady Anelay did do on the Asylum and Immigration Act 2004; my noble friend Lady Morris of Bolton has done so in several debates, my noble friend Lady Hanham on the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill, and my noble friend Lord Henley on the Coroners and Justice Bill last year. I modestly name but four recent examples. The Minister and I conversed on this subject in a Bill last year. We have all done our bit, at times in the face of resistance from the Government—which thankfully melted away each time—to improve protection for people vulnerable to trafficking. That is not to deny that much hard work has been done on all sides of the House, the other place and elsewhere too. Like my noble friend Lord Sheikh, I concur with all noble Lords that an anti-slavery day should be an opportunity for private and voluntary groups to raise the profile of their work, to highlight the ongoing outrage of human bondage in its myriad forms and to lobby those with power and influence to go beyond words and step into action. With those words, whether noble Lords consider them fine or not, I extend once again my support for this Bill.