Stopping human trafficking in Northern Ireland, “must be an absolute priority for our society and requires the active involvement of the National Crime Agency”, according to NI Conservatives’ spokesman, Mark Brotherston. Mark made his comments after PSNI officers rescued 20 Romanians during an investigation into slavery.
“Human trafficking is an appalling crime and we must treat it with the utmost seriousness”, Mark argued. “That means ensuring that national legislation, in the form of the Conservatives’ modern slavery bill, applies to Northern Ireland, when it becomes law at Westminster. That’s far more important than the badly drafted and possibly unenforceable private member’s bill sponsored by Lord Morrow at Stormont. It also requires the National Crime Agency (NCA), which is key to combatting this type of serious crime in the rest of the UK, to operate here without any impediments, despite the irresponsible opposition to its introduction by the SDLP and Sinn Féin.”
“Slavery and human trafficking are national problems which require national solutions and the most effective policing we can muster. Our bill at Westminster will increase the maximum sentence for trafficking from 14 years to life imprisonment. It will also create a new Anti-Slavery Commissioner to lead and coordinate the efforts to stop modern slavery in the UK. It’s absolutely necessary that these measures are extended to Northern Ireland, so we can get a handle on this problem.”
“Key to the legislation is a duty to report potential victims of trafficking to the National Crime Agency. It is the NCA which looks at the broader picture, gathering intelligence and bringing to justice the organised criminal gangs responsible for modern slavery. It is unthinkable that its ability to tackle these groups in Northern Ireland should be compromised. By their opposition to the NCA, the SDLP and Sinn Féin are offering a helping hand to the traffickers and the slave drivers. This is simply not acceptable and they must reassess their stance immediately.”