Government's new Human Trafficking strategy will not prevent trafficking for domestic servitude

On the 19th July the Government published its new strategy on Human Trafficking.

Kalayaan is concerned that the strategy places too much faith in border controls and has too little focus on victim protection. We have found nothing within the strategy which would replace the protections for migrant domestic workers provided by the domestic worker visa.

The domestic worker visa has been found to be the most important prevention of trafficking for domestic servitude.

Find out more about the proposals and write to your MP or respond to the Government's Consultation.

Domestic workers speak out!

On the 10th July over 250 migrant domestic workers attended a public meeting held at Unite the Union to discuss their concerns at the proposed changes to the domestic worker visa and to respond to the Government's Consulation.

There was unanimous agreement that the changes as proposed would be a disaster and a return to slavery. As one worker put it:

'if we were unable to change employer, we will suffer abuse and we will not be treated like any other employee in the UK. We have this right, we are safe now, why change something which helps people?'

Please write to your MP (you can use our template response letter) and respond to the Consultation to keep domestic workers protected.

You can find Kalayaan's template Consultation response here and you can respond online here. Please don't forget to respond before the Consultation response deadline of 9th September.

Photo credit: Paddy Craig

Why the visa works

We were called at Kalayaan a few weeks ago by a friend of ‘Mary’s’ (not her real name). She had first met Mary a few months ago at the gates of the school when they were both dropping off or collecting kids. Mary had slowly begun to trust her and it had become clear that Mary was being treated very badly. She had been in the UK about 1 year and had not been paid at all during this time. She was becoming desperate as she had been brought here by a wealthy and respected friend of the family, to work for her and help with the children, and the only reason Mary had agreed to come was that she could send money home to support her own children.

In fact she had been unable to speak with her family since arriving in the UK and was very worried about how they were surviving without her having sent any money home at all.

The friend passed on Mary’s phone number and we were able to speak with her on the phone. She was very scared of trusting us. Her conditions of employment were awful. She had never had a day off, she slept on the floor of the children’s room, and she cooked all the meals and did all the cleaning and would be called to work at any time. She could only sleep once everyone else in the house had gone to bed and was surviving on leftovers.  Mary’s passport was kept from her but she had a photocopy of her visa and we were able to establish that it was a valid domestic worker visa.

We explained to Mary that her employers were breaking the law in treating her this way and we could ask the police to go in and help her leave. Mary took a lot of convincing but was persuaded in the end by another worker from her country speaking to her and explaining that with her valid visa she would be able to find another job and work to support her family.

Mary eventually agreed to us contacting the police, who went in and helped her leave. Her employer has been arrested and Mary is slowly beginning to rebuild her life. It is clear that without the domestic worker visa which meant she could leave her employer while knowing she wasn’t breaking the law she would probably still be in the situation of slavery.

Please respond to the Consultation on the Government’s proposals to stop or remove the rights from this visa. Please also write to your MP explaining why these changes would be so disastrous for women like Mary.  You can use the template letter on our website, but it would be even better to write your own.

US state department concerned by lack of UK help for abused embassy staff

See Tuesday's Guardian article: US state department concerned by lack of UK help for abused embassy staff. Rather than improve protections for these workers the UK is planning to remove protections for all migrant domestic workers in the UK.

Please do write to your MP (go to Kalayaan.org.uk for a template letter) and respond to the Government's Consulation to object to these very worrying proposals.

Important Actions! Please respond to the Government's Consultation on proposed changes for migrant domestic workers and write to your MP.

Two important actions to protect migrant domestic workers in the UK.

1. Respond to the Government's Consultation
The Government's alarming proposed changes to the migrant domestic worker visa have been proposed in their Consulation on employment related settlement. It is important that as many people as possible respond explaining how the changes will remove the most important protection for this already vulnerable group of workers leading to an increase in abuse including trafficking.
You can find Kalayaan's template response on our website. You can reply to the consultation online here.https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/workroutesconsultation
Please remember to respond well before the closing date of 9th September 2011.

2. Write to your MP
Please write to your MP urgently, outlining your concerns and asking them to raise these with Theresa May, the Secretary of State. You can find out who your MP is here.
You are welcome to use Kalayaan's template response letter on our website, but it will be more effective if you have time to write your own.

Government proposals could mean a return to slavery for migrant domestic workers in the UK

On the 9^th June 2011 the Government announced alarming proposals to change the law on migrant domestic workers in its Consultation on Employment Related Settlement, Tier 5 and Overseas Domestic Workers

Kalayaan condemns these proposals which, if made law, could mean a return to slavery for migrant domestic workers in the UK.

They include options to either abolish the route for migrant domestic workers to enter the UK, leaving them open to being brought into the UK by employers through informal routes in breach of immigration controls, or to restrict them to a 6 or 12 month non renewable visa, and to remove the right to change employers even if severely abused.

Removing the right to change employer would mean a return to bonded labour.  

“The visa has been recognised as the main protection for this group of workers who are already especially vulnerable to severe exploitation including slavery and trafficking for domestic servitude” said Kate Roberts, Community Advocate at Kalayaan.

Removing the visa altogether would increase trafficking via illegal routes and unlawful working leaving those workers believing they are unable to contact the authorities for assistance and with few if any enforceable rights.

Limiting the length of the visa makes it likely that unscrupulous employers would keep workers working for them beyond the length of the visa, again without any recourse to meaningful legal protection against even severe exploitation.

The Government claims that anti trafficking measures can replace protections provided by the visa. Kalayaan, together with many others working with victims of trafficking, hve real doubts about how effective these measures are in practice for all victims. Nor do anti trafficking protections do anything to protect an individual before they are trafficked or to assist those who have been severely exploited but whose abuse does not meet all the trafficking criteria.

It is vital that we take action now, before these proposals are implemented. Please watch this space for campaign actions and please do get involved to prevent this leap towards state sanctioned slavery.

My experiences working as a volunteer at Kalayaan

I have been a volunteer at Kalayaan twice. During my first time volunteering I contributed to the Justice for Migrant Domestic Workers project. I transcribed interviews that were done with the migrant domestic workers regarding their experiences with their employers and the migrant domestic worker visa. I also worked on the client database.

What I enjoyed the most about my time at Kalayaan was meeting the migrant domestic workers and getting to know them. This really put the work that was being done into context and motivated me to do as good a job as possible for them. I think this is what differentiates volunteering at Kalayaan from other charities. The small and relaxed atmosphere of the office creates a positive and comfortable working environment and makes it a pleasure to come in to work.

During my second time volunteering at Kalayaan I conducted interviews with some of the migrant domestic workers based on their experiences of taking a case against their employer to the employment tribunal. I particularly enjoyed this task as it involved working with the migrant domestic workers directly which made the work more meaningful.

My experience at Kalayaan was emotionally rewarding and worthwhile!

Dilara