UK Immigration Legislation and a Hierarchy of Modern Slavery Victimhood

The UK’s Immigration Legislation and a Hierarchy of Modern Slavery Victimhood by Dr Marija Jovanovic

We are delighted to host Dr Marija Jovanovic as part of the Wilberforce Institute's Public Lecture programme, in association with Hull Museums.

The talk will explore a paradox and implications of the UK’s public declarations of commitment to anti-slavery action and protections embedded in the ‘modern slavery’ legislation introduced in 2015, on one hand, and the denial of such protection to certain categories of victims brought about by the recent immigration legislation, on the other.

The UK has sought to position itself as a global leader in anti-slavery action, both historically through the abolition of state-sponsored slavery in the 19th century and in its present-day initiatives to tackle ‘modern slavery’ and human trafficking (MSHT) – an umbrella term for a range of exploitative practices which persist in the 21st century despite being almost universally outlawed. Accordingly, the Modern Slavery Act 2015 is often portrayed as ‘a world-leading piece of legislation’ (UK Secretary of State for the Home Department, 2019). Similarly, the expert body in charge of monitoring States’ compliance with the Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings, noted that ‘[t]hrough its strong measures to identify victims, the UK is setting an important model for Europe’ (GRETA, 2021). More recently, the UK has led efforts to establish the Global Commission on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking in order to address a widely perceived lack of political leadership and declining global attention to the issue, despite increasing numbers of victims worldwide. The UK Government has also listed tackling modern slavery as one of its five pledges to mark the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, 2023).

In contrast with this professed global leadership in anti-slavery action, recent legal and policy developments designed to tackle ‘illegal’ migration tell a different story. Namely, following the publication of new immigration policy in 2021 (UK Secretary of State for the Home Department, 2022), the UK has adopted several pieces of legislation that exclude any victim of MSHT who either arrives in the UK ‘illegally’ (sections 22-29, Illegal Migration Act 2023) or is found to have committed a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment (known as ‘public order disqualification’ in section 63, Nationality and Borders Act 2022) from any protection available under domestic modern slavery legislation. This means that even those MSHT victims who were forced to commit criminal offences (a phenomenon known as ‘criminal exploitation’) as well as those who breach immigration rules because they were trafficked to the UK are made ineligible for any protection and support.

By denying protection and support to these categories of MSHT victims, the UK has created a hierarchy of victimhood expressly prohibited by its international legal obligations. Not only does international law binding on the UK not allow for a distinction between different categories of victims, it also expressly contains additional protections for victims compelled to commit criminal offences and those with irregular migration status.

The talk will address this tension and consider the immediate and long term implications of prioritising immigration control goals over human rights commitments and taking action against the perpetrators of this serious crime.

Marija Jovanović is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) at the Essex Law School and Human Rights Centre. Her research focuses on modern slavery and the way this phenomenon interacts with different legal regimes, such as human rights law, criminal law, labour law, immigration law, international trade law, and business regulation. She is the author of State Responsibility for ‘Modern Slavery’ in Human Rights Law (Oxford University Press, 2023). Marija’s recent work includes a research project on the experiences of modern slavery survivors in UK prisons and a legal analysis of the compatibility of the Rwanda Treaty and Act 2024 and Illegal Migration Act 2023 with the UK’s international obligations. Marija holds DPhil, MPhil, and Magister Juris degrees from the University of Oxford, and a law degree from Serbia. She previously held a Postdoctoral Fellowship in ASEAN Law and Policy at the National University of Singapore, and a Lectureship in Serbia.

This year we are teaming up with Hull Museums to offer attendees at our public lectures the opportunity to visit Wilberforce House Museum next door before they join us for the lecture. As a result all our lectures will begin at 4.30pm, directly after the Museum closes, and all will take place at our home in Oriel Chambers, 27 High Street, Hull, HU1 1NE. We are very grateful for the financial support Hull Museums is providing to the Wilberforce Institute’s public lecture programme, and hope that some of you will take the opportunity to have a look round their exhibitions and displays in advance of the lectures. Please join us for refreshments from 4.15pm onwards, and if you can, stay afterwards for a glass of wine and a chance to talk with our speaker.

There are a limited number of tickets available to attend in person. If you can’t make it in person, you can still enjoy the lectures by streaming online – please select the ticket according to your preference when you make your booking.

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