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Date: April 29, 2024 Mon
Time: 9:18 pm
Time: 9:18 pm
Results for migrant women (u.k.)
1 results foundAuthor: Hales, Liz Title: The Criminalisation of Migrant Women Summary: The work of a number of key organisations, including the International Organisation for Migration, has led to awareness of the extent of national and international people trafficking and exploitation by smugglers and agents of people seeking to leave their country to seek work or asylum. Within the UK, public knowledge has been influenced by the setting up of the UK Human Trafficking Centre in October 2006, the work of a number of human rights organisations, and media interest in some cases. However, to date, there has been no formal recognition of the numbers of potential victims in custody on criminal charges, nor systematic prison based research that provides evidence on how these individuals have been managed within the Criminal Justice System and by the United Kingdom Border Agency, at a time when the percentage of foreign women in the prison estate continues to increase. Our research on the criminalisation of migrant women, funded for 18 months by the ESRC, aimed to fill this knowledge gap. The research was carried out between May 2010 and November 2011 with migrant women in prison and the immigration holding estate in the South-East of England. The key aims were to gather information in relation to the numbers of migrant women being processed through the criminal justice and immigration systems within England and Wales. Within the context of this picture we aimed to see whether there were any women who were victims of trafficking, smuggling and ‘work under duress’ in custody, and by examining case management identify the extent of compliance in relation to the European Convention on Trafficking and the Convention of Human Rights. Key findings In 2009 there were 2,454 foreign national receptions into the female prison estate and during the period of the research foreign national prisoners accounted for 19 per cent of the population in custody and 26 per cent of new untried receptions. In four of the five prisons, where the majority of interviews were carried out, the average population was 30 per cent, rising to 31 per cent in HMP Holloway and HMP Bronzefield in the final month. Analysis of data from fpwp/Hibiscus, a key organisation working with foreign women in custody, showed that 41 per cent of their caseload in 2009 involved women charged with offences such as deception and fraud in relation to their immigration status and related offences of use of false documentation to access work or benefits, or pass through customs on entry or exit from the UK. Prison data gathered in the context of the research indicated that 26 per cent overall were arrested in relation to these offences with an additional 4 per cent arrested on offences such as street robberies and sale of counterfeit goods (offences potentially linked with trafficking). Within the immigration estate in 2010, 4,337 women were taken into detention, of which there were 2,799 receptions at Yarl’s Wood IRC, where monthly figures showed that 112 women, one third, were being held post completion of a prison sentence. In the context of interviews with 103 migrant women in the prison and immigration holding estate, detained or arrested on charges that are potentially linked with entry to or exit from the UK or work under the control of others, evidence gathered indicated that 43 were victims of trafficking, of whom two were formally re-assessed as children whilst in the adult estate.1 An additional five women had entered the country independently, but had then been worked in slavery or servitude like conditions and 10 had entered the UK in the hands of agents and had been arrested resultant on the theft of their relevant documents by their smugglers. The progress of these 58 women within the target group (that is, those who might have been trafficked or smuggled or made to work under duress) was then monitored in terms of their management within the criminal justice and immigration systems. This was carried out by 59 follow up interviews in custody and 14 more in the community, observations of 33 court appearances, ongoing communication by letter and examination of relevant paper documentation held by the interviewees, their legal representatives and others, wherever this was feasible. 38 of the 48 women within the target group (58) for whom there is data on employment were involved in non-skilled work before departure and, for those who were complicit in the decision to travel to the UK, reasons for migration were a mixture of economic necessity and a need for asylum. For all but eight it was their first move from home. Eight of those trafficked did not travel directly to the UK, but were first moved to other countries to work en route. Five had been trafficked as children and one of the children had been re-trafficked to the UK after being deported back to Africa from the first destination country. Twenty of the women trafficked were forced to work in prostitution and fifteen in cannabis production. Eight worked in domestic servitude, two were acting as drug mules and eight were involved in street robberies and the sale of fake goods. An additional five women were forced into these areas of work after entering the country independently of those who controlled them in the work. The common experience of all the women within this target group was one of disempowerment and for those trafficked or smuggled this process started from the point of recruitment. All of those interviewed indicated that they had been victims of physical and/or emotional abuse. Twenty-four women disclosed in interview that they had experienced multiple rapes and for an additional two this had been an ongoing threat. For those who migrated to seek asylum, disclosures indicated that these experiences started prior to their move and were thus the key reasons for migration. For others, disclosures in interview indicated that it was integral to the relationship they had with those who brought them to the UK, who worked them under duress and to whom they had been sold. For many, the hold and threats made by those who had recruited, moved and controlled them did not disappear on arrest. The women’s experiences led to them to report that they felt socially isolated, vulnerable, traumatised, subject to flashbacks, ashamed to tell others what had happened and finding difficulty in knowing whom to trust. They indicated that all of this was exacerbated by the experience of imprisonment and uncertainty about the future and it is not insignificant that being handed over to the police or immigration was a common threat used by those who had held them. In terms of the offences for which they had been arrested, the two key offence groups were in relation to the use of false identity documentation and the production of cannabis. Within the target group of 58, 20 of the primary charges were for use of false instrument with intent and 14 for the production of a controlled drug (cannabis). Of the 43 who were identified as victims of trafficking by the researchers, only 11 were processed through the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) and this did not happen for two of these women until their sentence was completed. Four other women were advised that this option was open to them. Three declined as they were serving short sentences and their goal was to return home as soon as possible, and the fourth was too frightened of the potential implications both to herself and her daughter in making full disclosure of her experiences. With four of these cases, the Conclusive Grounds decision made on their victim status by UKBA (which acted as the competent authority) was negative. To date, one of these decisions has been overturned following a successful judicial review; such a review was being considered for a second. Even where referrals were made to the NRM that resulted in a positive decision and non-prosecution, the victims spent on average four months in custody. For the other 37 there was no formal recognition of their victim status and no access to appropriate support or temporary protection from deportation other than going down the route of applying for asylum. Of equal significance is the fact that, to date, in only one of the cases did victim disclosures result in a full police investigation in relation to the actions of the perpetrators.A key question of this research is therefore why so few of those whose disclosures at interview with the researchers, which exemplified all the key indicators of being a victim of trafficking, had not been identified as such within the criminal justice system. Similarly we looked at why those arrested on offences committed under duress, in ignorance or resultant on the action of those who had controlled them were held entirely responsible for their actions. Details: Cambridge, UK: Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge,, 2012. 128p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 29, 2013 at: http://www.crim.cam.ac.uk/people/academic_research/loraine_gelsthorpe/criminalreport29july12.pdf Year: 2012 Country: United Kingdom URL: http://www.crim.cam.ac.uk/people/academic_research/loraine_gelsthorpe/criminalreport29july12.pdf Shelf Number: 127432 Keywords: Female InmatesHuman TraffickingIllegal ImmigrantsImmigrationMigrant Women (U.K.)RapeSexual AssaultSexual Exploitation |