Sex Trafficking—Operation Pentameter

The United Kingdom, along with the British travel industry, is launching a campaign to clamp down on the “’modern day slavery’ of sex trafficking.”^[1] The campaign is known as “Operation Pentameter” and it involves police patrolling major ports, meeting visitors arriving from eastern European countries.^[2] Pamphlets will be handed out with information and contact numbers for people who may thing they are being trafficked, and posters will be displayed that “ask questions such as: ‘Do you have your passport?’ and “Did you arrange your own travel?’”^[3]

Other agencies across Europe will take part in Operation Pentameter, and travel agency staff members will “be asked to report any suspicious activity to police and immigration officials.”^[4]

The campaign is also expected to help men be more educated “about the realities of prostitution in the hope such knowledge will demand.”^[5] One way the EU plans to do this is by “taking action against the trafficking of women for forced prostitution during major sports events.”^[6] Another way is by having “customers” notify police if they suspect a prostitute has been forced into the sex trade; “Association of Chief Police Offices vice spokesman Tim Brain said punters who report possible cases of people trafficking to Crimestoppers would not face prosecution.”^[7]

All this is well and good, but some human rights organizations would like the UK to take some further steps to protect the victims of human trafficking. As we have mentioned before, the United States has devised a “T” visa which is available to aliens who have been trafficked into the United States, which allows them to stay in the US and have access to services such as English language instruction. Amnesty International would like similar protections, saying that “[a]lthough trafficking for sexual and labour exploitation are criminal offences in the UK, the government has failed to develop comprehensive measures to protect and support people who have been trafficked into the country. … Signing up to the European Convention Against Trafficking would guarantee such vital protection.”^[8] The government is currently “decid[ing] whether to accept [the] European agreement that would give the victims of trafficking the automatic right to stay in Britain for six months. … As the law stands, the fate of victims depends on their individual case.”^[9]

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[1] Police Launch Campaign Against Sex Trafficking, Reuters, Feb. 21, 2006.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Laura Smith et al., Police Launch Campaign Against Sex Trafficking, The Guardian, Feb. 21, 2006.
[5] Id.
[6] Teresa Küchler, EU to Probe Sport and Sex Trade Links, EUObserver.com, Feb. 21, 2006.
[7] Clients Urged to Shop Sex Gangs, Sky News (via Yahoo!), Feb. 21, 2006.
[8] Amnesty International, UK: Sex Trafficking, Amnesty Welcomes Operation Pentameter but Calls for Protection for Trafficking Victims, Amnesty.org.uk, Feb. 21, 2006.
[9] Smith, supra note 4.