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Migrant Domestic Workers (Visas)

I, too, congratulate the hon. Member for Reading, West (Martin Salter) on securing this Adjournment debate. It is clear that slavery has been banned in this country for some time. Whether there is a claim under the European convention on human rights for anyone who has a diplomatic domestic migrant worker visa is an interesting question that Kalayaan may wish to consider. I understand that people have got ordinary domestic migrant worker visas after having had diplomatic ones—that might be a potential route in one or two cases—but the reality is that there is an arrangement that bonds an employee to an employer, which creates bonded or indentured labour, or slavery; there is no question about that. The test of whether somebody is in that position is whether they can run away. If they cannot run away without suffering serious sanctions, there is a problem. Changing a diplomatic visa to a non-diplomatic visa would not necessarily extend the visa or increase the person's other rights—it just gives them a chance to run away from slavery. I congratulate Kalayaan on its work. In 2008, 27 diplomatic domestic workers were registered at Kalayaan, and in 2009 there were 24. That is a high proportion of the 200 diplomatic domestic worker visas that are issued per year; 253 were issued in 2007 and 189 were issued in 2008. If the arrangement is changed, the behaviour of employers will be modified, because the employer-employee relationship will be changed, and the employees will know that there is a mechanism by which they can establish their rights.