winter 2009 News

Slavery discovered on Britain’s cannabis farms

26 Nov - An article in the New Statesman magazine revealed that organised gangs are trafficking children to suburban UK homes to work on cannabis farms.

The children, usually aged 14-16, are trafficked into the country from Vietnam before being locked in the houses to act as ‘gardeners’ for the cannabis plants. During 2005-2007, two thirds of the 1,500 cannabis farms in London raided by the Police were run by Vietnamese criminal gangs.

The article explains the children are forced to sleep in cupboards and attics and live in danger of electrocution because of the illegal wiring of the electricity supply for the lighting and heating of the plants.

During policed raids trafficked children and adults are also not identified as victims of crime and instead face arrest for drug offence.
   

Workers are given identification documents and compensation after their release in a raid.   Brazil rescues more than 4,500 slaves

3 Jan - Brazil’s anti-slavery taskforce rescued 4,634 slaves from remote ranches and plantations in 2008.

Last year the taskforce took part in a record 133 raids as well as visiting 255 different farms. The freed slaves have been paid a total of £2.4m in compensation.

In Brazil, it is common for people from the impoverished north-eastern areas of the country to be approached by a middleman, commonly known as a ‘gato’, or cat, and tricked into slavery through promises of work and good wages.

Instead the workers find themselves trafficked to remote rural settlements where they are trapped, sometimes at gunpoint, and expected to cut sugar cane or clear tracts of the Amazon rainforest to pay off debts incurred through the cost of their food and housing.         
 

Another victory for Florida’s tomato pickers

2 Dec - Subway, the world’s third largest fast food chain, has agreed to pay an extra penny per pound of tomatoes harvested by Florida farm workers, as well as undertaking a zero-tolerance of slavery among all its suppliers.

The company, which is also the biggest fast-food buyer of Florida tomatoes, made the commitment during talks with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), who campaign to eradicate slavery and improve working conditions in Florida’s fields.

The deal follows similar agreements between the CIW and Burger King (in 2008), McDonalds (2007) and Yum! Brands (2005). This means that all four of the world’s largest restaurant companies are now working towards eradicating slavery and labour exploitation in Florida’s agriculture industry.          
 

UK adopts European trafficking convention

17 Dec – The British Government ratified the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, obliging the UK to provide minimum standards of protection and assistance to trafficked people.

Concerns remain over how the Convention will be implemented in practice. In particular Anti-Slavery International has challenged the Government to tackle the culture engrained in many authorities, which views trafficked people as illegal immigrants rather than victims of serious crime.

The ratification follows reports that London’s MET Human Trafficking team, was to close due to lack of funding, despite high profile successes in busting trafficking gangs.

However, after pressure from organisations including Anti-Slavery, the Justice Secretary Jack Straw announced on the 4 Dec that the team, which remains the UK’s only specialist anti-trafficking police unit, would continue.
   

Sudan accused of making thousands slaves in Darfur

17 Dec - Thousands of civilians in Darfur are being abducted for forced labour and sexual slavery by the Sudanese Army and government backed militia, according to a report by the Darfur Consortium.

Many of the abductions take place during armed raids by Janjaweed militia on the villages of Fur, Massaliet, Zagawa and other non-Arabic speaking ethnic groups.

The report claims that the abductions are part of a systematic policy of ethnic cleansing. The land is then repopulated with Arabic speaking people, including nomads invited from Chad, Niger, Mali and Cameroon.

The report documents for the first time evidence that significant numbers of men are being abducted and enslaved as agricultural labourers in the land controlled by Janjaweed militias.

Former abductees also testify to the direct involvement of the Sudanese Armed Forces in the abduction of women and children to become sex slaves and domestic workers for soldiers in Khartoum.

An anonymous senior Sudanese politician claimed: “The army captured many children and women hiding in the bush outside burnt villages. They were transported by plane to Khartoum at night and divided up among soldiers as domestic workers and in some cases wives.”

As many as 300,000 people have died since the Darfur conflict began in 2003 with some 2.7 million people forced to flee their homes. The abductions closely follow the pattern of the civil war in southern Sudan, which saw 14,000 people enslaved between 1983 and 2005.
   

Niger condemned for slavery - Hadijatou's victory offers hope for thousands

27 Oct - The Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has found Niger responsible for failing to protect 24-year old Hadijatou Mani from slavery.

The Court has made clear that Niger must now protect its citizens from slavery. Ms Mani is to be compensated 10 million CFA, the equivalent of £12,300/$19,000 in damages.

Niger criminalised slavery in 2003, but at least 43,000 people remain enslaved across the country.

Hadijatou was born into an established slave class and like all slaves in NIger was inherited, sold and made to work without pay. She was also used as a sexual slave by her master.

Hadijatou Mani, said: "We are all equal and deserve to be treated the same. I hope that everybody in slavery today can find their freedom. No woman should suffer the way I did."

She added: "With the compensation I will be able to build a house, raise my animals and farm land to support my family. I will also be able to send my children to school so they can have the education I was never allowed as a slave."
   
          
The Reporter is Anti-Slavery International's quarterly magazine. It is available to all members free of charge. By receiving the Reporter you will keep informed of the latest issues of slavery around the world, in-depth features and new developments in the fight to end slavery.