They don't arrive by official channels so they never see an 'official' whom they can make a claim of asylum to.
The quotes below are real life accounts from the UK Centre for Social Justice on their document 'slavery report' 2012
This one is interesting
Juju
Support workers have voiced their concerns at the control measure exerted predominantly on young
women from West Africa: juju. Often used in cases of sexual exploitation, juju is a tradition involving
superstition and witchcraft. It encompasses a range of rituals typically conducted by a witch doctor,
either to summon good fortune or to call upon evil spirits. It has been used to secure the obedience
of individuals before they are trafficked out of the country. Widespread belief in juju makes it an
effective tool of control for traffickers:
‘At the ritual, the woman is made to take oaths of allegiance, secrecy, confidentiality, and repayment
of the costs of her journey and other incidental expenses, as solely determined by the trafficker’.
39
Recent cases have exposed the effectiveness of juju as means of securing compliance. Osezua Osolase,
a resident of Northfleet, Kent, recruited and raped a number of orphans in Nigeria, performing juju
rituals which included cutting the young girls with a razor and taking their blood:
‘The native doctor cut the girls’ arms, drawing blood, and scarred their chests. He told them to swear
they would not run away, that they would work to pay back the money they owed and that they
would never tell who had helped them. The man then took locks of their head and pubic hair and
pared their finger and toe nails, warning them that he was keeping a part of them and if they broke
their word they would die’.
Osolase then brought the girls to the UK to sell them into the commercial sex industry. His victims
were told that they would be found and killed if they disclosed anything about their ordeal. The rituals
ensured that ‘invisible power’ was held over the young girls, allowing ‘control at whatever distance’.
41
Not only does this form of witchcraft render victims terrified and compliant with the abuse they face;
it also makes police investigation very difficult, since many will refuse to speak about their experience
even when they have been removed from their traffickers. Support providers have also told the CSJ
of some victims who have suffered night terrors and severe emotional trauma linked directly to juju
Constance was 15 years old when her mother died in her home country in Africa. After her mother’s
death, she was befriended by a neighbour who told her that she was going to be educated in the UK
and would then be given a job. In reality, he sold her to traffickers. A woman she didn’t know organised
documents for her and travelled with her to the UK. Upon her arrival she was taken to a house and was
told by a woman she had not met before that in order to repay her debt of £50,000 she would have to
sell her body for sex. She had no idea what the sum meant and initially refused to obey, but the woman
starved Constance until she had no choice. Constance was forced to work in numerous brothels and
forced to be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. She was ‘rescued’ when the brothel she was
working in was raided by the police. She was arrested, spent the night in a police cell, was released in the
morning and told to go home. Disorientated and unsure where she was, she approached a member of
the public who directed her to an African church. The vicar and his wife allowed her to stay in the church.
She stayed there for a few weeks until she was eventually referred to a support organisation who then
referred her to the Refugee Council, as she told them she was a child. Constance was initially subject to an
age dispute by the UKBA, but social services later concluded that she was a child, and took her into care
A 53-year-old Romanian man named Josef was working as an
electrician in Romania. In March 2010 he became unemployed
and was looking for work; he met and was given work by
another Romanian man. Josef was badly treated and assaulted
from the outset of their working relationship. In October 2010,
Josef travelled with his employers to the UK. He was threatened
with violence by them if he did not do as they said. When he
got to the UK, Josef was taken to a house and forced to live in
the shed in the garden. This shed had no heating or lighting. He
was given no food or bedding and was forced to use a hole in
the ground as a lavatory. Josef was then forced to work for the
family, stealing and doing work around the house.
In December 2010 Josef was in the shed whilst there was a
party taking place in the house. During the party he went to
the back of the house and stood at the window to ask some
of the guests for food, but was refused. He returned to the
shed and went to sleep. A short while later he woke up to find two of the men standing over him.
They kicked and punched him repeatedly telling him he should not have asked for food, and then
made him eat his own faeces. He was then raped. Josef was later taken to hospital with serious injuries,
but the men responsible for the attack attended with him and, because Josef could speak no English,
translated only what they wanted the doctor to hear and manipulated his words. In March 2011 Josef
finally found a chance to go to the police. He was then housed at a safe location outside London. All
four perpetrators were convicted of human trafficking into the UK for exploitation under section 4
of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants) Act 2004 and were sentenced to terms of
imprisonment between nine and 13 and a half years.
Why would anybody want to come here with no status, as an 'illegal'. It is a myth that these people are scamming the benefits system. The reality is that they see very little money, and some get sweet FA.
There is most often someone standing behind them making money. They are the ones that should be subject to government crackdowns.
The other problem is, when illegal immigrants are found they are often arrested and treated as criminals when they should be treated as victims of slavery.
