I’m so encouraged that the EU Parliament voted in favour of the new anti-trafficking Directive yesterday. The overwhelming majority of 643 (only 10 MEPs voted against the new law with 14 abstentions) shows that there is a strong desire in Strasbourg to end the trafficking of people.

The focus now must turn to our own Government in Westminster. The UK is one of only two member states which have not yet opted-in to the EU Trafficking Directive. One of the most interesting aspects of the European vote is that the Directive passed with the help of British Conservative and Lib Dem MEPs. We need to press their Westminster colleagues to do the same.

Please consider contacting your MP, urging them to press the Government into action. You can send them a quick email by visiting www.writetothem.com and entering your postcode.

You might like to highlight the fact that back in May the Coalition Government said that they would make tackling human trafficking a priority. You could also highlight one or two of the various ways that adopting the Directive would improve our fight against trafficking (see below).

There are several key areas where UK law/practice does not match up to the measures laid out in the Directive. Here are three:

Support for trafficked children

Articles 14 -15a (previously 13 -14a) of the Directive require that a child be provided with a guardian or representative who will act as a legal representative in related situations (e.g. in court). At present in the UK no special representative or guardian is appointed to put forward the child’s best interests. As a result, there have been cases where trafficked children have pleaded guilty when being prosecuted for crimes committed under duress because they are advised to do so by their lawyers in the absence of a social worker or guardian.

Forced begging

The definition of trafficking in Article 2 includes ‘forced begging’ which is not included in any of the other official definitions. As trafficking for forced begging is an issue in the UK, it is vital that legislation recognises this aspect of exploitation.

Powers to prosecute

At present, while the UK has the power to prosecute in cases where trafficking occurs into, within or out of the UK, it has no power to prosecute in cases involving British citizens where the trafficking occurs outside of the UK (for example, if someone trafficked me from France to Cyprus). Article 10 (previously article 9) of the Directive would give the UK the option of prosecuting in such cases when the offender is a habitual resident or when the person being trafficked is a UK national. The UK would also be given jurisdiction to prosecute in all cases when the offence takes place outside of the UK and the offender is a national.

I’ll be posting a more detailed briefing on the UK compliance with the Directive by the end of the week, so do check back later if you want more information. You can also stay up to date by following tweets @loosethechains . If you send a letter to your MP, please also consider sending a copy to David Cameron at 10 Downing Street, London, SW1A 2AA

I’d like to end this post with the words of CARE’s Chief Exec, Nola Leach: “We very much hope that when the British government is given the opportunity to opt-in early next year that it seizes this with both hands. Britain, which led the way in tackling slavery in the 19th century, should not drag its feet in the 21st.”