All Articles: Trafficking

The Upper Tribunal has confirmed that the Home Secretary’s “Discretionary Leave” guidance, version 10, published on 16 March 2023 is unlawful to the extent that it excludes victims of trafficking who had been accepted by the Home Office to be a victim before 30 January 2023 and had, before that...

28th February 2024
BY Eva Maria Doerr

A new version of the modern slavery statutory guidance was published in January, adding some protections for people who are at risk of being disqualified from trafficking support due to a public order offence. These changes were made following the Home Secretary’s concession of a judicial review challenge to guidance...

9th February 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Home Secretary has been unlawfully operating a secret policy preventing victims of trafficking from being granted the leave that they were entitled to while their asylum claim was pending. The case is XY v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2024] EWHC 81 (Admin). This article is a...

24th January 2024
BY Sonia Lenegan

The High Court has issued a damning interim relief decision with a laundry list of Home Office failures in a case challenging the detention of a potential victim of trafficking with mental health issues and several criminal convictions. The case is R (ER) v Secretary of State for the Home...

21st December 2023
BY Sonia Lenegan

A new report comes with a stark warning: “As the number of sponsored migrant workers rises every quarter, the issue of migrant labour exploitation is only likely to increase”. Work Rights Centre, a charity that works to support migrants and disadvantaged British residents access employment justice, has today published their...

14th November 2023
BY Sonia Lenegan

As anticipated, the latest published trafficking statistics covering July to September 2023 show a substantial reversal in the number of refusals at reasonable grounds stage, although these are still far higher than before the Nationality and Borders Act 2022. How does the modern slavery protection process work? Firstly, a potential...

2nd November 2023
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Court of Appeal has reiterated the process that should be followed in article 3 medical treatment cases in relation to the shifting burden of proof, as set out in AM (Zimbabwe) v SSHD [2020] UKSC 17 and in the headnote to the Upper Tribunal’s consideration of the case. This case...

2nd November 2023
BY Sonia Lenegan

In this podcast, Jamila Duncan-Bosu of the Anti-Trafficking and Labour Exploitation Unit discusses how the seasonal agricultural workers scheme facilitates exploitation, the barriers to people raising complaints about their treatment, and what the government can and should be doing about it. Last week, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the...

30th October 2023
BY Sonia Lenegan

Here, we look at the practicalities involved in getting a good medico-legal report. We have previously explained what a medico-legal report is and that article should be read alongside this one. These reports can be a game changer in cases involving vulnerable clients, but in the current climate it is...

24th October 2023
BY Beth Mullan-Feroze

In BSG v R [2023] EWCA Crim 1041, the Court of Appeal quashed the convictions of a young Somali citizen, who suffered ‘a clear injustice’ after being ‘groomed, exploited and threatened’ [para 57] by a human trafficking gang in the UK. Background The applicant, “BSG”, had been convicted of possession...

21st September 2023
BY Colin Gregory

The latest trafficking statistics show a huge increase in both refusals and delays, suggesting the Nationality and Borders Act 2022 had had a disastrous impact on the protection of survivors of modern slavery. Most of the trafficking provisions of the legislation came into effect on 30 January 2023. Changes were...

22nd August 2023
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Home Office has, following a judicial review challenge for two claimants of Duncan Lewis, published new modern slavery statutory guidance which no longer requires a potential victim of trafficking and modern slavery to produce ‘objective’ evidence corroborating a credible account of their experiences in order to receive a positive...

19th July 2023
BY Thomas Munns

Potential victims of trafficking awaiting asylum support decisions during the first lockdown were wrongly denied the full payments to which they were entitled. So held the High Court in R (on the application of PM) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2023] EWHC 1551. The Claimant, PM, is...

28th June 2023
BY Deborah Revill

The Upper Tribunal has confirmed that a recognised victim of trafficking who is also an asylum seeker, partly fearing re-trafficking on return as well as political persecution, should have been granted permission to stay (leave to remain) whilst their asylum claim was pending, in line with findings in R (KTT)...

16th February 2023
BY Irene Tsherit

The Home Office’s new policy temporary permission to stay for victims of trafficking and slavery was published on 30 January 2023. It accompanies the new appendix to the Immigration Rules of the same name, which was published on 18 October 2022 and came into force on 30 January this year....

7th February 2023
BY Katherine Soroya

On 3 November 2022, the latest quarterly release of statistics on modern slavery claims was published, covering 1 July to 30 September this year. During this period, 4,586 people were referred into the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) or via the Duty to Notify as potential victims of modern slavery. This...

7th November 2022
BY Sonia Lenegan

The Court of Appeal has granted an application made by a woman who was trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation, to quash her conviction from November 2009. She was convicted for using a false identity document when attempting to travel to the Netherlands after she had fled her traffickers....

27th October 2022
BY Jed Pennington

The new Statement of Changes, published on 18 October 2022, has introduced yet another appendix to the Immigration Rules: Appendix Temporary Permission to Stay for Victims of Human Trafficking or Slavery. The new appendix will be added on 30 January 2023. The provisions largely mirror those set out in primary...

26th October 2022
BY Eva Maria Doerr

The Home Office has published a new statement of changes to the Immigration Rules (HC 719). The explanatory memorandum confirms that the changes are largely focused on the government’s continued efforts to simplify the rules, and on implementing policy changes that have recently been put in place. The majority of...

19th October 2022
BY Josie Laidman

In its ongoing drive to reduce Channel crossings, the government has set its sights on arrivals from a “safe and prosperous” Albania. A marked increase in Albanian arrivals via the Channel have been reported over the past year, prompting the former Home Secretary to seek further agreement with the Albanian...

23rd September 2022
BY Irene Tsherit

The Court of Appeal has dismissed an Albanian woman’s judicial review challenge to a finding that she was not a human trafficking victim, holding that those deciding her case had handled it with the correct level of “anxious scrutiny”. The case is R (LM (Albania)) v Secretary of State for...

19th July 2022
BY Gabriel Tan

Last week, celebrities and charities joined forces to celebrate the bravery of Sir Mo Farah. In a BBC documentary, aired on 13 July, the Olympic gold medallist revealed that he was trafficked to the UK and forced into domestic servitude aged nine years old. Farah explained that the decision to...

18th July 2022
BY Maya Esslemont

Does exploiting a domestic worker through human trafficking and modern slavery constitute “exercising” a “commercial activity” for the purposes of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 1961 such that it falls within the exception to a diplomat’s immunity from civil suit? When this arose several years ago in Al-Malki v...

6th July 2022
BY Alison Harvey

We are looking for a dynamic and committed individual to join our legal team as an Immigration and Public Lawyer (maternity cover for 12 months). This is an exciting role, offering significant opportunities for growth and development, to increase your immigration and public law experience and knowledge through working on...

5th July 2022
BY Free Movement

The High Court in COL v Director of Public Prosecutions [2022] EWHC 601 (Admin) has taken the Crown Prosecution Service to task for its decision not to charge the alleged traffickers of a victim of modern slavery. The claimant, a national of the Philippines and a domestic worker, was confirmed as...

30th March 2022
BY Larry Lock

In R (EOG & KTT) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWCA Civ 307, the Court of Appeal has confirmed that challenges arguing that Home Office policies breach the European Convention Against Trafficking (ECAT) are justiciable insofar as the policy purports to comply with ECAT. It went...

18th March 2022
BY Gabriel Tan

In R (MD and EH) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] EWCA Civ 336, the Court of Appeal has found that the Home Office’s non-payment of additional financial support to human trafficking victims who have children and receive asylum support was not unlawfully discriminatory. Page contentsThe factsThe...

17th March 2022
BY Gabriel Tan

In R (SV) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2022] UKUT 239 (IAC), the Upper Tribunal has held that the European Convention Against Trafficking (ECAT) not being a part of UK domestic law is no reason to refuse to examine the lawfulness of a policy which purports to...

16th February 2022
BY Gabriel Tan

In R v AAD, AAH, and AAI [2022] EWCA Crim 106, handed down on Thursday 3 February 2022, the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) has outlined avenues to appeal against criminal convictions for victims of trafficking who are confirmed as such after conviction. Immigration practitioners should be aware of these...

7th February 2022
BY Margo Munro Kerr and Sarah-Jane Ewart

The High Court has again taken the Home Office to task for its stingy approach to supporting vulnerable asylum seekers during the pandemic. In R (JB) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWHC 3417, the court held that the department unlawfully reduced cash payments to an asylum seeker...

12th January 2022
BY Larry Lock

There are two exciting opportunities to join ATLEU, a leading anti-trafficking and human rights charity, in the newly created roles of Policy Manager and Survivor Engagement and Participation Coordinator. Policy Manager We are looking for a dynamic and committed individual to take on the newly created role of Policy Manager....

23rd December 2021
BY Free Movement

The decision in R (KTT) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWHC 2722 (Admin), widely reported in the mainstream press this week, is a massive result for trafficking victims. The High Court has concluded that a trafficking victim who is also an asylum seeker must be granted...

15th October 2021
BY Alex Schymyck

ZV (Lithuania) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] EWCA Civ 1196 is an important case about the admissibility of asylum claims made by EU citizens. There is a long-standing rule that asylum claims by EU nationals will only be considered in exceptional circumstances. It is presently contained...

11th August 2021
BY Alex Schymyck

Part 4 of the Nationality and Borders Bill addresses modern slavery and human trafficking. The Home Office’s goals for reform in this area are, as ever, focused on criminality. The Home Secretary has promised that the Bill will “break the business model” of trafficking networks (and therefore save lives), ensure...

19th July 2021
BY Katherine Soroya

The High Court has declared that an anomaly in the benefits system which disadvantages victims of trafficking who receive asylum support is discriminatory and in breach of Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Unusually, the Secretary of State confessed to the court that she was not sure...

2nd June 2021
BY Alex Schymyck

The Court of Appeal’s Criminal Division has concluded that Home Office trafficking decisions are not admissible in criminal proceedings. Brecani v R [2021] EWCA Crim 731 concerned a 17-year-old convicted of taking part in a conspiracy to supply cocaine. During the trial, the Single Competent Authority — the arm of...

1st June 2021
BY Alex Schymyck

The Home Secretary has laid a new draft of the Adults at Risk statutory guidance before Parliament. The new version marks a significant change in how trafficking victims fit within the policy framework for detaining vulnerable people. At present, the Home Office has a policy of releasing people from immigration...

6th April 2021
BY Alex Schymyck

The immigration authorities’ work on human trafficking and modern slavery produced just ten arrests and five prosecutions in two years, the immigration inspector has found. David Bolt’s report on the Home Office’s efforts in this area, published on 4 March, found that the department’s immigration directorates are “not doing enough...

8th March 2021
BY CJ McKinney

The European Court of Human Rights has looked for the first time at when the prosecution of a human trafficking victim might violate Article 4 of the Convention. In VCL and AN v United Kingdom (application nos. 77587/12 and 74603/12), it sharply criticises the Crown Prosecution Service for prosecuting victims...

16th February 2021
BY Alex Schymyck

The Court of Appeal has handed down a major judgment on the correct approach to assessing whether a person is a victim of trafficking: MN v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2020] EWCA Civ 1746. Although this was the central question in the case and huge resources were...

4th January 2021
BY Colin Yeo
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