SUPREME COURT: TRAFFICKED PEOPLE HAVE A RIGHT TO CLAIM DAMAGES IRRESPECTIVE OF THEIR IMMIGRATION STATUS

In a landmark judgment on the first ever modern slavery case heard by the Supreme Court, the Court unanimously ruled that trafficked people have a right to claim damages from their traffickers irrespective of their immigration status.

Anti Slavery International intervened in the Supreme Court case and were represented by Public Interest Lawyers (PIL). The SLF had grant funded PIL to act as a third party intervener and to advance arguments about the UK’s obligations to protect trafficking victims and to help ensure that victims are able to seek reparation from those who wronged them.

The case concerned a girl who, as a child, was trafficked into the UK and exploited as a domestic worker.

In reaching their decision the court ruled that ’employers guilty of trafficking should not be able to defend their actions on the basis that the people they exploit are in the UK illegally, using the so called ‘defence of illegality’. The court also ruled that,’ were it to uphold the defence of illegality, it would run contrary to both the UK’s international law obligations with respect to trafficking, as well as existing public policy in the field of trafficking’. For more information on the case click here