A report released today highlights where current UK legislation falls short of the much needed provisions on human trafficking, as set out in the EU Trafficking Directive.

To download the report, click on the link: EU Directive on Human Trafficking – Why the UK should opt in (PDF)

Last May, when the Coalition Government was formed, they promised to make ‘tackling human trafficking a priority.’ However, very shortly afterwards they rejected the opportunity to significantly increase the provisions of UK law to help the victims of trafficking when they stated they were not minded to opt-in to the new anti-trafficking Directive.

When pressed on the matter, the Prime Minister told the House of Commons that ‘We have put everything that is in the Directive in place.’ The UK is currently one of only two EU member states that are yet to opt-in to the EU Directive – an agreement which offers better protection to child trafficking victims, greater powers to prosecute traffickers and protection for trafficked people in criminal proceedings.

Today’s report, published by the charity CARE, does not disagree that there are some areas where the UK is compliant. However, the document also clearly spells out that there are a significant number of very important areas where the UK is not compliant. Its findings mean that if the Government persists in opting-out, the levels of protection offered by the UK will fall behind those of other Member States, including countries like Romania and Bulgaria.

Happily, when the Directive completes its passage through the European institutions this month, the Government will have the opportunity to opt-in once again. Important changes have actually been made to the Directive by the European Parliament and Council of Ministers since the Government’s initial decision. These make the case for opting-in even stronger.