Having blogged yesterday about the Coalition government’s appalling decision not to endorse a draft EU directive on human trafficking, I was interested to hear about the Channel 4 documentary which also went out yesterday at nine o’clock in the evening.
The first of three episodes The Hunt for Britain’s Sex Traffickers tells the story of the largest-ever police investigation into sex trafficking in Britain following officers from four counties as they go undercover. I have no doubt the documentaries will offer an insight into the experiences of women duped or coerced into entering the sex trade and being profoundly exploited.
Although I am in Brussels this week, and am therefore unable to watch the programme, I will certainly be catching up later in the week when I’m back in London. (British TV over the internet is not available outside the UK).
The channel’s own description of show is promising, suggesting that attention has been given to the ‘demand side’ of sex trafficking. This is important, since it is all too easy to focus on the obviously culpable criminals orchestrating the trade, whilst neglecting to explore the role played by men in Britain seeking cheap sex.
I would also hope that The Hunt for Britain’s Sex Traffickers challenges some of the misleading stereotypes that distort understanding, by highlighting the various forms of exploitation that arise from the cross-national sex trade. It is crucial that we recognise that not all victims of trafficking conform to the sometimes sensationalised image of the ‘sex slave’, permanently confined and subject to systematic physical abuse. Many women are constrained and debased in more insidious ways, for example locked into long hours of sex work by the obligations of hefty “debts” to those who control them or deterred from speaking out by the threat of arrest and deportation.
I think it’s important that the public is exposed to a more nuanced and thorough account of sex trafficking than that frequently splashed across the tabloid press, and I’m interested to see for myself whether C4 has managed to deliver this.
In any event, I hope the Coalition ministers responsible for fighting the trafficking of human beings watched the Channel 4 programme and that it will inform them sufficiently to persuade the government to support the EU directive.
First off, Cheers to the police for a great job.
After watching the prison time the convicted people got at the end of episode 3, I say boo to the justice system.
Sad that money is more important than people still
the money launder’ got the biggest sentence than the smugglers, the smugglers should have gotten a minimum of 10 years.
charges of kidnapping, rape, assault = less than 4 years.
1 oz of marijuana = 8 to 15 years.
money laundering = 4+ years
One can get more time on themselves by driving in the UK without a drivers license and insurance.
Certainly “a more nuanced and thorough account of sex trafficking than that frequently splashed across the tabloid press” would have been very much welcomed by everybody.
As you watch the final two episodes, you might reflect on the fact (never revealed in the programme) that ‘Lily’ – a Thai woman who provides the key evidence for the convictions of some eight of her traffickers – was actually rescued by a ‘punter,’ and not by Pentameter raids at all.
This was, of course, in the days before arranging sex with a woman who turns out to have been coerced could leave the punter in question with a £1,000 fine and his mugshot all over the local press.
For this, you would need to have read the Plymouth Herald on the days in question.
Links here:
http://stephenpaterson.wordpress.com/2010/09/02/key-channel-4-%e2%80%98sex-slave%e2%80%99-was-rescued-by-a-punter/
According to this article Operation Pentameter 2 did not find a single person who had forced anyone into prostitution.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/oct/20/government-trafficking-enquiry-fails
Of course disrupting criminal activity in itself is worthwhile. If a few women were able to escape from life of enforced prostitution then good but as the film shows we are talking about a few (who were rescued) who will have been rapidly replaced. Of course you don’t stop arresting drug dealers because they will be replaced by new ones either but who are we kidding here? This operation involved every single police force in the country and must have cost millions and the end result is that nothing has changed. A few people were arrested mostly for running brothels, for immigration offences or drug offences. Have any of these brothels been closed down permanently and are fewer women being trafficked no and no. Did they find a single trafficker in any of these brothels again no.
I heard an officer say all women found were to be treated as victims. So why do they storm into these brothels armed to the hilt and scare the girls inside half witless. I saw some of them scream with sheer terror, another was filmed by the programme makers with head bowed, naked apart from a towel while a group of policemen stood around no wonder they hate men. I have on other occasions frequently seen women led out in front of the media in handcuffs – that’s how we treat the victims. Most are then detained in immigration centres. Funny how whenever the Police went to see any of the so called Mr Bigs of the operation they knocked on the door politely. One of the Mr Bigs (maybe the Brains?) lived in University halls of residence. Real Mr Big wasn’t he?
The fact is that these operations are to sooth the conscience of middle England and people who cannot accept that people are prepared to pay for sex and that people are willingly prepared to sell themselves for sex. Whether you accept the wildly exaggerated figures from the government or not, if there are thousands of trafficked women in this country working in the sex industry then we all seem happy to accept that situation as long as an operation like this comes along once in a while.
According to one police officer there are 4000 brothels in the UK. No there aren’t there are 4000 massage parlours none of which have brothel on the outside. If they are brothels they are illegal and why don’t the police close them all down? If 4000 shops opened tomorrow selling heroin how long would it take the police to close them down? A day, a week, ten days tops. It’s all to do with will. We like to think we care about these women but we obviously don’t care that much, it doesn’t keep us awake at night does it?
You know where this is going those of you who have a moral issue about prostitution need to get over it, its you who are causing these women the most harm by allowing this situation to continue. Massage parlours should be allowed to call themselves brothels; they should be licensed, regulated and inspected. Then they can be made safe for the people that wish to work there and go there. No one can then be forced to work in the sex industry against their will. There will be no demand for trafficked women for the sex industry and the police can concentrate on destroying what little of the vile trade would then continue.(at least in the sex industry).