Human Trafficking Handbook (Recognising Trafficking and Modern-Day Slavery in the UK)

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Description
Human trafficking constitutes, in the words of the Preamble to the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings of 2005, 'a violation of human rights and an offence to the dignity and the integrity of the human being'. There can indeed be few graver violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms than the trafficking of human beings, whether for sexual exploitation, forced labour, domestic servitude or other contemporary forms of exploitation. Article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits all forms of slavery and servitude and forced or compulsory labour has been held to enshrine one of the basic values of the democratic societies making up the Council of Europe, a special status which is reflected in the fact that, in common with the prohibition of torture or inhuman and degrading treatment in Article 3 of the Convention, the obligation imposed by Article 4 makes no provision for exceptions and is non-derogable. It is, therefore, perhaps surprising that, despite the cardinal place occupied by the Article within the Convention, cases before the European Court of Human Rights relating to human trafficking have been both few in number and recent in date. Two judgments alone have addressed the issue in any detail. The landmark cases of Siliadin v France in 2005 and Rantsev v Cyprus and Russia in 2010, both served to underline the positive obligation imposed on Member States under Article 4 to ensure the practical and effective protection of victims and potential victims of trafficking by putting in place a legislative and administrative framework and by adopting effective measures for the investigation and prosecution of those responsible.As this Handbook vividly demonstrates, the comparative paucity of Stras¬bourg case-law should not be seen as any indication of the prevalence or scale of the problem of human trafficking or of a lack of need for more effective measures to combat this modern form of slavery, whether in the United Kingdom or elsewhere.The modest title 'Handbook' might suggest that this work is no more than a practical manual for those directly concerned with the subject-matter of human trafficking. Certainly the book has all the virtues of a manual, containing as it does a mine of information and clear and practical guidance. But it is much more than that. It is a book which examines all aspects of human trafficking in separate chapters, contributed by acknowledged experts in the field - doctors, children's services, domestic and international trafficking specialists, legal practitioners, police and prosecutors and members of organi¬sations dedicated to the support of victims of trafficking. The diversity of the contributors is matched by the diversity of the topics covered in the chapters,
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Contents
Part I    Perspectives on Identification
Part II   Perspectives on Human Traffiking in Scotland and Northern Ireland
Part III  Perspectives on Supporting Victims
Part IV  Perspectives on the Legal Recognition of Rights and Duties
Part V   Perspectives on the Right to Compensation by Victims
Part VI  Perspectives on UK Criminal Legislation, the Prosecution of Traffickers
             and the Criminalisation of Victims of Trafficking 
Appendices
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