BREXIT AND THE FIGHT AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING: ACTUAL SITUATION AND FUTURE UNCERTAINTY

Year 2018, Volume: 26 Issue: 1, 119 - 142, 01.08.2018

Matilde Ventrella

https://doi.org/10.29228/mjes.47

Abstract

By leaving the EU, the UK will also leave EU agencies such as Europol and Eurojust. Brexit, therefore, may create a gap in cooperation between law enforcement authorities of different Member States in their ability to detect human trafficking. Legal instruments such as the European Arrest Warrant may be repealed and the UK may reduce their cooperation in EU criminal matters. While the UK remains in the EU, it can join EU legal measures in the criminal area. After Brexit, this option will no longer be available. There is thus the risk that the UK will decide not to be bound by the Human Trafficking Directive. This article seeks to explore where the UK stands in the fight against human trafficking and what position it may adopt after Brexit. Subsequently, the article explicates the claim that a larger number of vulnerable people may be targeted by criminal organisations and recruited for the purpose of human trafficking and forced labour because EU citizens may no longer be entitled to live in the UK with the same rights and entitlements. This analysis will be conducted by examining EU legislation in the criminal area, UK legislation on human trafficking and the proposals presented by the UK government.

Keywords

EU and UK criminal area, human trafficking, vulnerable migrants, EU citizens

References

• Peers S. (2017) “UK/EU Security Cooperation After Brexit: the UK Government’s Future Partnership Papers”. 25 September 2017, <http://eulawanalysis.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/ukeu-security-cooperation- after-brexit.html>, (26 September 2017).
• Peers, S. (2016) EU Justice and Home Affairs Law, Volume II: EU Criminal law, Policing, and Civil Law Fourth Edition, (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
• Piotrowicz, R. (2012) “States’ Obligations under Human Rights towards Victims of Trafficking in Human Beings: Positive Developments in Positive Obligations’. International Journal of Refugee Law, 24 (2): 181-201.