Upper Tribunal (Immigration and asylum chamber), 2016-10-17, [2016] UKUT 454 (IAC) (HD (Trafficked women) (CG))
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Judge | Upper Tribunal Judge Coker, Upper Tribunal Judge Frances |
| Status | Reported |
| Date | 17 October 2016 |
| Published date | 17 October 2016 |
| Court | Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) |
| Hearing Date | 20 July 2016 |
| Subject Matter | Trafficked women) (CG |
| Appeal Number | [2016] UKUT 454 (IAC) |
Upper Tribunal
(Immigration and Asylum Chamber)
HD (Trafficked women) Nigeria CG [2016] UKUT 00454 (IAC)
THE IMMIGRATION ACTS
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Heard at Field House
Determination Promulgated
On 18th, 19th and 20th July 2016
…………………………………
Before
UPPER TRIBUNAL JUDGE COKER
UPPER TRIBUNAL JUDGE FRANCES
Between
HD
(ANONYMITY DIRECTION MADE)
Appellant
and
SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT
Respondent
Representation:
For the Appellant: Ms K. Cronin with Mr M. Moriarty and Mr B. Hashi, counsel instructed by Luqmani Thompson and Partners, solicitors
For the Respondent: Mr S. Singh instructed by Government Legal Department
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The guidance set out in PO (trafficked women) Nigeria [2009] UKAIT 00046 at paragraphs 191-192 should no longer be followed.
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Although the Government of Nigeria recognises that the trafficking of women, both internally and transnationally, is a significant problem to be addressed, it is not established by the evidence that for women in general in Nigeria there is a real risk of being trafficked.
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For a woman returning to Nigeria, after having been trafficked to the United Kingdom, there is in general no real risk of retribution or of being trafficked afresh by her original traffickers.
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Whether a woman returning to Nigeria having previously been trafficked to the United Kingdom faces on return a real risk of being trafficked afresh will require a detailed assessment of her particular and individual characteristics. Factors that will indicate an enhanced risk of being trafficked include, but are not limited to:
a. The absence of a supportive family willing to take her back into the family unit;
b. Visible or discernible characteristics of vulnerability, such as having no social support network to assist her, no or little education or vocational skills, mental health conditions, which may well have been caused by experiences of abuse when originally trafficked, material and financial deprivation such as to mean that she will be living in poverty or in conditions of destitution;
c. The fact that a woman was previously trafficked is likely to mean that she was then identified by the traffickers as someone disclosing characteristics of vulnerability such as to give rise to a real risk of being trafficked. On returning to Nigeria, it is probable that those characteristics of vulnerability will be enhanced further in the absence of factors that suggest otherwise.
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Factors that indicate a lower risk of being trafficked include, but are not limited to:
a. The availability of a supportive family willing to take the woman back into the family unit;
b. The fact that the woman has acquired skills and experiences since leaving Nigeria that better equip her to have access to a livelihood on return to Nigeria, thus enabling her to provide for herself.
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There will be little risk of being trafficked if received into a NAPTIP shelter or a shelter provided by an NGO for the time that she is there, but that support is likely to be temporary, possibly for just a few weeks, and there will need to be a careful assessment of the position of the woman when she leaves the shelter.
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For a woman who does face a real risk of being trafficked if she returns to her home area, the question of whether internal relocation will be available as a safe and reasonable alternative that will not be unduly harsh will require a detailed assessment of her particular circumstances. For a woman who discloses the characteristics of vulnerability described above that are indicative of a real risk of being trafficked, internal relocation is unlikely to be a viable alternative.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Glossary
Page 3
Paragraph number
Introduction
1
Asylum
9
What is trafficking?
12
What are the characteristics of trafficking in a Nigerian context?
23
Victim profiles and indicators of risk
62
The legal test relating to assessment of risk on return
64
Risk on return
83
Conclusions on the provision of protection
137
Internal relocation
178
Country Guidance
187
Appellant’s case
194
Page number
Annex 1 – The expert witnesses
75
Annex 2 – Submissions
80
Annex 3 – The elements of trafficking
84
Annex 4 – Trafficking and Investigation
99
Annex 5 – USA statute extract and 2016 TIP report - Nigeria
103
Appendix A – Error of Law decision
113
Appendix B – Schedule of Background Evidence
121
GLOSSARY
Anti-trafficking Convention The Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (2005)
ATLeP OSCE/ODIHR 2011 delegation
AVRR IOM Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration programmes.
AWEG African Women’s Empowerment Guild
Campana The Structure of Human Trafficking: Lifting the Bonnet on a Nigerian Transnational Network by Paola Campana (2016)
CARE - Coordinated Approach for the reintegration of victims of trafficking
Cherti – IPPR - Beyond Borders: Human Trafficking from Nigeria to the UK by M Cherti, J Pennington and P Grant (January 2013)
CORI Country of Origin Research and Information - Thematic Report Nigeria: Gender and Age December 2012
COSUDOW Committee for the Support of the Dignity of women,
Danish Report The Danish Immigration Service Report
The Protection of Victims of Trafficking in Nigeria: a Fact Finding Mission to Lagos, Benin City and Abuja, 9/26 September 2007 (April 2008)
EASO Report 2015 European Asylum Support Office Country of Origin Information Report – Nigeria: sex trafficking of women dated October 2015.
Europol 2016 Report Situation Report: Trafficking in Human Beings In Eastern Europe
Finnish Report 2015 Finnish Immigration Service Report
Trafficking Women to Europe (March 2015)
Freedom House Freedom in...
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