45-year-old Supriya Begum from south Asia, trafficked for
domestic servitude; 20-year-old Abiamu Omotosos from west
Africa, trafficked for sexual exploitation; 16-year-old Tuan
Minh Sangree from Vietnam, trafficked for forced labour. These
are some of the real cases of trafficking that are highlighted
on the cover of a new report by the UK's Anti-Trafficking
Monitoring Group . The report assesses the UK's measures to
protect trafficked people 1 year on from the country's
ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Action
Against Trafficking in Human Beings—the first international
treaty obliging states to adopt minimum standards to assist
trafficked people and protect their rights. The Group reviewed
390 individual cases of trafficking and found that victims of
trafficking are usually treated as criminals, with more concern
being paid to their immigration status or the illegal activity
they have been forced into than to their protection and welfare.
Disturbingly, this situation was also the case for c