Victims of human trafficking are looked upon as illegal aliens out to claim asylum, welfare and support. They deserve more protection than is currently available, says Conny Rijken.

The Dutch approach to human trafficking is first and foremost by way of criminal law. The human aspect is missing and the success of such exclusive approach is extremely doubtful. Victims tend to shy away from reporting the crime if it means involving the police. Meanwhile immigration minister Leers is convinced that abuse of the system is rife although so far he has failed to produce the figures to back up his dark suspicions. You would think that this would be reason enough for the minister to look into ways of improving the rules for victims of the crime of human trafficking.
Priority on deportation
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here is another reason why he should. The new European Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking which came into force in April 2011, also stresses a human rights approach. But Leers’ proposed measures against the so-called ‘B9-asylum ruling for victims of human trafficking’ (which grants victims the right to a temporary stay in the country, a basic welfare payment and support) illustrate all the more that his priority in fighting this crime lies with deportation and the rule of law.
The measures Leers is proposing in his letter (November 11, 2011, reference number 5716693/11) or deems eligible for further evaluation are geared towards making the B9 status more difficult to achieve and so limit the right to asylum. A number of organisations have united to write a letter to the minister outlining the consequences of his proposed policy.
The present B9 ruling promises asylum, welfare payments and support to victims of human trafficking provided they agree to cooperate with the police authorities and provided a criminal investigation takes place. According to the ruling the police must grant victims a reflection period of three months, time needed to recuperate and consider whether or not they will agree to cooperate with a police investigation. Only if the victim reports the crime, or agrees to cooperate with the investigation, B9 status may be granted.
In 2010, around 350 people were eligible for B9 status. Comensha, the organisation responsible for the central registration of victims of people trafficking, registered 993 victims for that year. Evidently B9 status is only granted to a small group of people.
The criminal investigation is another obstacle on the way to B9 status. Whether or not such an investigation is started does not necessarily have to do with a suspicion of human trafficking but may be influenced by a lack of staff or low priority.
Reflection period
The minister not only wants to deal with the alleged abuse of the B9 ruling, he also wants to investigate whether the right to a reflection period should remain in place. It’s a remarkable move for a number of reasons. Firstly, the victims of people trafficking need the time to recuperate from their ordeal. Secondly, the fact that victims can only have this time if they go to the police is a considerable obstacle in itself.
And then there are the many examples and signals that the (aliens) police and the labour inspection are failing to pick up on signs pointing to people trafficking, preferring instead to ‘uphold alien law’ concerning people without legal documents (i.e. deport them).
The deportation of twelve African domestic workers by the Kennemerland police is a harrowing case in point. It is well-known that illegal domestic workers are vulnerable to exploitation and a police investigation was started. After the women concerned were held by police and found not to have a residence permit hey were deported without any further investigation into the exploitation. In a number of cases the police were found to have acted illegally when they held the women but the fact that the investigation had been started to investigate an abusive situation wasn’t even commented on.
If this is allowed to continue the Dutch claim that fighting people trafficking is high on the priority list seems hollow indeed.
Conny Rijken is a senior lecturer at Tilburg University and author of the book ‘Combating Trafficking in human beings for labout exploitation’