Beltrami & Company Criminal Law & Glasgow Solicitors Blog

Gangs that lure victims to the UK and then exploit them for sex, labour and domestic slavery are being targeted following action by the government.

Glasgow Caledonian University lecturer Dr Kiril Sharapov, an expert in the field of human trafficking, is to undertake the biggest study ever into the public’s attitude towards the problem – and how consumers’ spending habits contribute towards it.

Dr Sharapov says that there is a widespread misconception that human trafficking is only associated with the illegal sex trade, where people are forced into prostitution after being trafficked across borders.

He believes a growing demand for cheap goods and services, and lack of public awareness of trafficking, obscure our concern for the welfare of the migrant workers involved. Such demand and lack of awareness fuel the exploitation of migrant workers, many of whom work in a wide variety of everyday situations, including care homes, hotels, construction, the service industry and the UK’s meat and poultry processing sector.

“Trafficking is not just the issue of badly controlled borders, or economic migrants or criminals. It should be looked at from the perspective of why people are smuggled and trafficked here – there is a demand for cheap and exploitable labour. The rising costs of energy and raw materials and the continuing economic downturn are having a direct impact on the price of consumer goods,” said Dr Sharapov.

“This creates downward pressure on wages and an increasing demand for cheap labour that can be easily intimidated, for example by physical violence, threats of deportation or to the security of family back home, and exploited.”

Dr Sharapov’s work will focus on the UK (where people are trafficked to), Ukraine (where people are trafficked from) and Hungary (where people are trafficked through).

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (the Commission) has launched the findings from its inquiry into human trafficking in Scotland. The inquiry focused on trafficking for the purposes of forced labour, domestic servitude and criminal exploitation, but more explicitly on commercial sexual exploitation.