Successive governments have committed to combatting modern slavery, but the way the new Nationality & Borders Bill is currently drafted goes against this.
In particular, Part 5 of the Bill will have long-term impacts, including less protection and support for victims, less power to break trafficking cycles, and a reduction in criminals being prosecuted.
Unseen stands with victims and doesn’t want to see the hard work of the past decade being repealed by this Bill. We urge you to sign our petition to Priti Patel.
Letter to the Home Secretary
Dear Rt Hon Priti Patel
Unseen is a charity that works directly with survivors of slavery and human trafficking. We see first-hand the devastation that exploitation can have on their lives. Katherine* is one of those survivors, and she is adamant that the Bill will deny others the chance of rescue and recovery.
Katherine says: “I was illegally brought to England by a man I trusted. He tricked me, then abused me – mentally and physically, for years – and gave me no way to escape. The Nationality and Borders Bill will affect people like me, the people who have no choices in life.”
If passed in its current form, survivors – including both British and non-UK survivors and child victims – would be denied life-saving support through a raft of new exemptions and restrictions. The most devastating will be that it will:
- Create a harsher system for survivors with higher thresholds and, therefore, greater risk of support being rejected
- Introduce cruel “trauma deadlines” by putting a time limit on when survivors must disclose their experiences before they are assumed to be lying
- Block access to support for survivors who have criminal records, despite 49% of potential trafficking victims being forced to commit crimes last year.
“If Part 5 is not dropped from the Nationality & Borders Bill,” Katherine says, “survivors like me will go undetected and the cycle of abuse and exploitation will continue.”
More than 100 non-profit NGOs, including the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, have highlighted the seismic impact of Part 5 on survivors of modern slavery. We urge you to drop Part 5 of the Bill and stop what will be the catastrophic impact on some the most vulnerable people in our society.
Yours sincerely
Unseen & Katherine
*Katherine is not her real name
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