Victims suffer when slavery slips through the net

Despite the truth about slavery in the UK being published widely and discussed in parliament earlier this month, it appears that the victims of slavery often continue to be treated as criminals by the UK justice system.

In this amazingly well-connected world of information, it’s tragic to see how often slavery in the UK seems to literally slip through the net. It could be that facing up to the truth about slavery is just too difficult to bear – after all, we like to think it was erradicated two hundred years ago don’t we?

Read for example the Report issued in 2007 by Drugscope – a Government-funded charity – revealing  child victims of UK cannabis farm boom eighteen months ago. Here’s an extract:

DrugScope is today highlighting the plight of Vietnamese children and young people caught up in illegal cannabis cultivation in this country. Trafficked to the UK by drug gangs, children as young as 14 are being coerced into working as ‘human sprinkler systems’ to water and tend plants in UK cannabis farms. When a cannabis farm is raided, these victims of ‘modern slavery’ can face harsh penalties in the courts, despite their trafficked status.

…In June, the Home Office published a report into child trafficking which identified Vietnamese young people as a vulnerable group who had been particularly exploited in cannabis production. The report details several cases where Vietnamese children have been jailed for cannabis cultivation and called on the police and Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to avoid prosecuting trafficked cannabis farmers. DrugScope has also learned that the Head of the CPS, Director of Public Prosecutions Sir Ken Macdonald, told an All Party Parliamentary Group on trafficking in July that he would be warning prosecutors to take into account the back story of children found working in cannabis factories.

Now fast-forward eighteen months to today and let’s look at some headlines:

In the New Statesman recently:

Cannabis farms are being run in suburban houses by organised crime gangs, and staffed by illegally smuggled children, generally aged between 14 and 16

And in local press around the country we see examples of how children caught in cannabis factories are treated by the justice system. Here’s a current story about a Vietnamese teenager published on Wales Online:

A VIETNAMESE teenager has appeared in court over his alleged part in a Cwmavon cannabis factory.

Long Quoc Tran is charged with being concerned with the production of cannabis at a house in Brooklands last month.

Another Vietnamese man, Ngu Nghia Nguyen, pleaded guilty to cultivating cannabis at an earlier hearing and will be sentenced at Swansea Crown Court next month.

Tran, of no fixed abode, entered no plea to the charge and magistrates in Neath agreed to transfer the case to Swansea Crown Court.

Tran gave his age in court as 15 but at an earlier hearing, after he could produce no documentation to support this, magistrates ruled he should stand trial in an adult court.

He was remanded in custody and will next appear before the court on March 6. His case is due to formally transfer to the Crown Court on March 20.

Now of course I’m not saying the teenager in the story above was trafficked into the UK or was a victim of slavery. I don’t know. But evidence suggests that it is possible. 

As Martin Barnes, Chief Executive of Drugscope, says in the report above:

“Some have considered large scale cannabis cultivation as an almost ‘victimless crime’ but the reality is that vulnerable young people are being exploited.

“Unfortunately they find themselves victims twice over – both at the hands of the criminal gangs who brought them to this country, forcing them to work in cramped, dangerous conditions to fuel the illegal drug trade – and again when they find themselves treated as criminals by the UK authorities.

“DrugScope urges the Home Office to issue formal guidance as soon as possible to the UK courts. These children should not be serving jail terms – they should be given support and protection.”

Similar Posts:

• Slavery hidden on your doorstep
• How big is slavery in the UK?
• Anti-Slavery tells horrific story of sex slaves in London
• What is trafficking?
• Slavery in the UK is an international issue