‘Super-complaint’ filed over slavery victims treatment

LONDON: A British anti-slavery group filed a landmark “super-complaint” to a police watchdog warning that officers are hampering prosecutions by treating slavery victims as criminal suspects or failing to make them feel safe during interviews.

Traumatised survivors often refuse to cooperate with police or fail to report their abusers in the first place as a result of aggressive questioning or being left distressed during investigations, said Hestia – a charity that supports victims.

Hestia has launched the first police super-complaint over modern slavery highlighting the concerns, under a system launched in November allowing some expert organisations to raise issues on behalf of the public about harmful police practices.

If a panel comprising officials from government and professional policing bodies and watchdogs upholds the complaint after an assessment, it could result in action ranging from a probe to changes to official police standards on the matter.

In Britain and beyond, activists and lawyers say trafficking victims - particularly foreign ones – are increasingly being prosecuted for crimes they were forced to commit, and treated as illegal migrants amid rising global anti-immigration sentiment.

“If those interactions between police and victims are not managed with great sensitivity then people will simply not come forward,” said Patrick Ryan, the chief executive of Hestia, which offers support and safe houses for slavery victims in London. — Reuters