These days it is a cheap riposte to an imperious demand: "I thought slavery had been abolished." But, as witnessed by a number of recent articles in The Herald, a particularly insidious form of human slavery persists in modern Scotland. The International Labour Organisation estimates that human trafficking is worth more than £14bn a year to global crime syndicates, for whom vulnerable people are as much tradeable commodities as arms or drugs. Trafficked people end up on farms, in sweat shops and domestic service, working for a pittance or nothing, and in Scotland it is estimated that up to 700 trafficked women and girls have been deceived and coerced into prostitution.
They are victims of crime, but in the past they have been treated too often like criminals. Some have been deported as illegal immigrants and found themselves shunned by their own people or trafficked again. Despite a number of arrests, there has been not one prosecution for human trafficking in Scotland. This may be set to change with the announcement next week of the creation of a dedicated unit to co-ordinate the effort to defeat traffickers.
Individual forces, notably Strathclyde, have been pro-active in this area but without a countrywide campaign, there is a risk that this vile trade will be merely shifted from one area to another.
A similar initiative by the Metropolitan Police has been so successful that it has largely driven human trafficking out of London to other British towns and cities, demonstrating the necessity of a national response that draws on specialist expertise. Without it, there is a danger that Scotland will be seen as a soft touch, because among pressing high-profile issues like knife crime, human trafficking is not the subject of a specific target for individual forces and because the problem is largely invisible to the general public.
In addition, shame, violence and intimidation (including threats to harm other family members) hinder efforts to identify the perpetrators. And, though Britain has finally enacted the EU Convention on human trafficking, it carries no automatic leave to remain, so women continue to fear deportation. Moreover, there is still no shelter in Scotland for trafficked women, though several churches and the Trafficking Awareness Raising Alliance (Tara) provide vital support. Two centuries ago, Christian compassion and public outrage put an end to African slavery. A similar response is needed today.
