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Liz LynneLiberal Democrat MEP for the West Midlands 1999-2012 |
Slave trade bi-centenary should spur action on modern trafficking, says MEP
March 4, 2007 12:00 AM
The 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade should be a spur to a decisive crackdown against modern people trafficking and help to the victims, Liz Lynne MEP said at the Harrogate LibDem conference on Saturday.
The West Midlands MEP, a long time campaigner against human trafficking, was a key speaker at a fringe meeting organised by the LibDem Lawyers Association on the crisis. Other speakers at the meeting included LibDem Shadow Home Secretary Nick Clegg MP and Glynn Rankin, the head of the Human Trafficking Unit at the CPS.
Liz said: "The Liberal Democrats are the first Party to pass a motion on this issue, 200 years after the abolition of the slave trade. The British Government must use this historic occasion to step up their efforts to end the evil of modern slavery and human trafficking. An estimated 12 million people across the world are still enslaved in a new and abhorrent way.
"Working with NGOs and charities, the LibDems have been putting pressure on government for many years. With this anniversary being such a high profile event, Tony Blair will we hope finally be forced to take real action.
"At the moment, people trafficked into the UK have no guaranteed protection. They are treated not as victims but as illegal immigrants, deported and in many cases are re-trafficked again. It is a scandal that there is only one government funded safe house for the victims forced into the sex trade in the whole of Britain - the Poppy Project. We need more, and also projects to help people forced into domestic servitude or forced labour.
"On March 25th, the date of the bicentenary, Tony Blair is at last going to sign the Council of Europe's Convention on Human Trafficking - it is about time. But I only hope that the government honour that commitment by ratifying it. A lot of other countries haven't, and we need to keep up the pressure on them.
"However, we need to go further. Although the Convention provides for a 30 day period of recovery for the victims of trafficking, it takes a lot longer to recover from such an awful experience. We must stand up and ensure that we support these victims and help them to rebuild their lives. Wilberforce would have demanded nothing less."
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
Liz Lynne was author of a policy motion to Liberal Democrat Part Conference on human trafficking, which is now Party policy, and gives a clear message that the Party sees this issue as a grave and immediate concern.
Liz Lynne was also Shadow Rapporteur for a European Parliament report on human trafficking and launched Business Travellers Against Human Trafficking in the European Parliament. In the European Parliament, Liz has tabled a written declaration on the need to end the connection between business travellers and the trafficking of women and children into forced prostitution. In 2005, she tabled an oral question to the Commission on the lack of pressure on member states to implement anti-trafficking legislation. Liz has also made speeches on the human trafficking situation in Cambodia, Asia and Guatemala.
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