Indonesian fruit picker landed in debt bondage challenges Home Office
Summary
Date Reported: 26 Feb 2024
Location: United Kingdom
Other
Not Reported ( Recruitment agencies ) - Recruiter , Not Reported ( Agriculture & livestock ) - EmployerAffected
Total individuals affected: 1
Migrant & immigrant workers: ( 1 - Indonesia , Agriculture & livestock , Men , Documented migrants )Issues
Access to Information , Recruitment Fees , Irregular Work , Debt Bondage , Excessive production targetsResponse
Response sought: No
Action taken: A charity in support of the worker is alleging this is a case of the breach of right to be protected from labour exploitation. ATLEU is bringing the case against the Home Office & Defra. The civil claim for damages says he was effectively trapped in the UK in debt bondage.
Source type: News outlet
Summary
Date Reported: 26 Jan 2024
Location: United Kingdom
Other
Not Reported ( Agriculture & livestock ) - EmployerAffected
Total individuals affected: 1
Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - Indonesia , Agriculture & livestock , Men , Documented migrants )Issues
Irregular Work , Poverty Wages , Occupational Health & SafetyResponse
Response sought: No
Action taken: The worker is bringing a case against the UK Govt. (Home Office).
Source type: News outlet
Summary
Date Reported: 26 Jan 2024
Location: United Kingdom
Companies
Meta (formerly Facebook) - Other Value Chain EntityOther
Not Reported ( Restaurants & bars ) - EmployerAffected
Total individuals affected: 1
Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - Indonesia , Restaurants & bars , Men , Undocumented migrants )Issues
Reasonable Working Hours & Leisure Time , Precarious/Unsuitable Living Conditions , Retention of identity documentsResponse
Response sought: No
Action taken: He has partnered with the Anti-Trafficking and Labour Exploitation Unit to bring a test case against the UK Home Office, claiming damages for his debt bondage. He hopes the case will shed light on the issues faced by those wishing to work in Britain.
Source type: News outlet
Ismael’s experience [as an Indonesian fruit picker in the UK] is forming the basis of a test case against the government’s seasonal worker scheme, which argues that the scheme’s design breached his right to be protected from modern slavery and labour exploitation.
The case, brought by the Anti Trafficking and Labour Exploitation Unit (ATLEU) against the Home Office and Defra, is a civil claim for damages which will say he ended up effectively stuck in the UK in debt bondage.
...The unit is looking for a declaration that the scheme breached the teenager’s human right...
Ismael...said he spent two days sleeping rough at York station before finding an underground recruiter on Facebook. He was lent the train fare to Newcastle to take up a job in a Chinese takeaway using his passport as collateral.
Ismael said he was paid £300 a week, working more than 14 hours a day as a chef’s assistant. “There was an empty storage room that just had bins with rubbish and they asked me to live there,” he said. “It was cold, I had no heater or anything.”.
He is one of more than 34,000 people who were given a seasonal worker visa in 2022. The scheme was expanded rapidly after a pilot in 2019, despite concerns that it left people vulnerable to exploitation.
More than 200 Indonesian fruit pickers who went to the UK in 2022 asked for diplomatic help after facing difficulties. Many arrived late in the season and found there was not enough work on farms to repay their substantial debts.
His initial application to be recognised as a victim of trafficking has been turned down, despite no dispute over its facts.
A government spokesperson said...
“We have established a new team within the Home Office compliance network which focuses on ensuring sponsors are abiding by workers’ rights, and will always take decisive action where we believe abusive practices are taking place or the conditions of the route are not met.”