The Detention Taskforce on Survivors of Trafficking in Immigration Detention, of which Detention Action is a member, has published a briefing titled “Barriers to Disclosure: A Survivor of Trafficking’s Journey Through the Immigration Process.”
Introduction
This briefing summarises the recent experience of members of the Detention Taskforce on survivors of trafficking in immigration detention.
During recent years we have seen increased numbers of survivors of trafficking being detained, including straight from crossing the channel on a small boat. This has included a period of particularly high numbers of people trafficked from Vietnam being detained for processing under the Detained Asylum Casework process (in 2021), detentions for the purpose of removal to Rwanda (in 2022 and 2024) and ongoing detentions of people for removal under the UK-France Treaty.
We have seen that these groups of clients are not identified as potential victims of trafficking prior to detention or immediately on being detained. These clients experience a number of barriers to disclosing their experiences at the earliest opportunity. However, when they do disclose, their disclosures have been criticised as being ‘late’ or ‘last minute’ and treated as less credible as a result. This shows a lack of understanding of the impact of trauma on those who have been victimised.
This briefing focuses on individuals recently detained for removal to France.