London: The Home Office must compensate female victims of sex trafficking whose children had to hear details of their abuse because no childcare was available during appointments, the high court has ruled. Mr Justice Kerr found in a ruling on Monday that the system of support for victims of trafficking discriminates against asylum-seeking women. The Home Office admitted it treated this group differently but told the court that despite this they should not be entitled to any remedy. Two trafficking victims brought the case, both of them single mothers from Albania recently granted refugee status. The judge said: “The claimants are highly vulnerable people who have been poorly treated … Both have suffered much.” Under the current system, trafficking victims with a dependent child receive a benefit that they can use to cover childcare during appointments, unless they are in receipt of asylum support.
The two women were denied this “dependent child trafficking support”, which left them unable to pay for childcare while they attended appointments to help them take their cases forward and assist with their recovery. Such appointments involve disclosure of specific details about the women’s exploitation while trafficked that they did not want their children to hear. The judge found that the Home Office’s system of support discriminates against lone parent asylum-seeking victims of trafficking and “the treatment of the claimants … was egregious”.
Read more: Diane Taylor, Guardian, https://is.gd/l5fPjQ
