Hansard

Given the short time that we have for speeches, I will limit my remarks to the scourge of human trafficking, which is, according the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, the fastest-growing international crime. Because of its covert nature, we can often only guess at its true scale, but it has been estimated that between 600,000 and 800,000 men, women and children are trafficked across international borders each year.

The number of those people who end up in or passing through Scotland is unclear. One of the key concerns that was raised in the inquiry was the paucity of data across the UK and for Scotland in particular, so I welcome the news that the new Scottish intelligence and co-ordination unit is due to complete its strategic assessment of the scale of human trafficking in Scotland some time next month. I hope that we hear more about the results of that research then. I also welcome the multi-agency working of that unit and of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, of which it is part. I hope that they can find a way to work with front-line specialist support agencies on data collection issues and service delivery more generally. Specialist support agencies are vital in identifying victims of human trafficking and ensuring that they are provided with the right type and quality of support to meet their needs. It is essential that they are adequately financed.

In Scotland, the TARA project has been hailed by organisations such as Amnesty International and the Poppy Project for its commitment to providing a quality, victim-centred approach for women trafficked for sexual exploitation. We heard evidence, however, that although in theory TARA now offers Scotland-wide support, in practice it is not resourced at a level that enables it to provide a high level of support to people throughout Scotland.

The Cabinet Secretary for Justice told the committee that negotiations on funding were still under way but that the Scottish Government hoped to be able to offer funding to allow for further expansion of TARA’s services across Scotland and to address problems with access to mental health support.

Investment in initiatives to map and prevent trafficking and to bring to justice the perpetrators through the human trafficking unit of the SCDEA is important, but it is vital to maintain a victim-centred approach through adequate funding of front-line support services.

The report by the anti-trafficking monitoring group, “Wrong Kind of Victim?”, which provides a fairly comprehensive review of measures to implement the European convention against trafficking since its ratification in the UK, states that the national referral mechanism is “not fit for purpose” and is not working as an effective means of identifying and providing support to potential victims of trafficking.

A key concern highlighted in evidence is that the immigration status of any referral appears to be a key factor in deciding whether that person will be found to be a credible victim of trafficking. We heard that in the first nine months of itS being in place, 76 per cent of UK nationals referred to the national referral mechanism were officially recognised as being trafficked. In stark contrast, only 29 per cent of non-British EU nationals and a mere 12 per cent of third country nationals were officially recognised as being trafficked.

People are getting negative asylum decisions in the same letter as that which tells them that they are not believed to be trafficking victims. That process is clearly discriminatory and the committee recommended that the Scottish Government should consider setting up a localised multi-agency NRM alongside a local infrastructure of support. Decisions on the trafficking status of victims could be made in isolation from asylum decisions and the welfare of the potential victim should be the primary concern. I therefore urge the Scottish Government to reconsider the recommendation.

Although the committee was pleased to hear that traffickers are being convicted for charges including brothel keeping and illegal earnings, we remain concerned that, to date, there have still been no convictions for trafficking offences in Scotland, despite there having been more than 100 convictions south of the border. It is imperative that we fully understand the reasons for that, whether it is due to problems with legislation, the difference in burden of evidence, knowledge gaps within the police or judiciary, or something else. I had a lot more to say about that, but my time is up.

I welcome the shared commitment around the chamber to a strong and positive response to human trafficking in Scotland and feel confident that we are making good progress in beginning to tackle this heinous crime.

16:47