Slaves on our Streets: Rescued victim describes her new life - 'My new employers are lovely'

Last month The Independent reported on the dramatic escape of a woman being kept as a house slave by a Saudi family. Now, Daisy Fletcher meets with her to hear how her life has changed and how our anti-slavery campaign is helping others trapped in the same situation

Marissa Begonia, who founded The Voice of Domestic Workers charity (Jeremy Selwyn)

Anne will never forget what it was like living as one of Britain’s hidden slaves. Brought into the country by a Saudi family she believed would look after her, she was forced to work almost every hour of every day. Deprived of her passport, she was terrified if she fled she would be arrested.

Now that brutal existence is over. Since her escape last month from the property in Wandsworth where she was being held, the 44-year-old Filipina has been given somewhere new to live, got a job, and had her first experiences of being in London as a free woman.

“My new employers are lovely,” she says of the elderly couple who she now works for. “Before I used to starve as a slave, but now I can eat, and they treat me with respect. It is a big thing for me to be treated as a human being.

“I am very happy, and grateful to God and to The Independent and everyone who helped me escape. I have been to a restaurant and tried things I have never enjoyed in my life – I can even afford perfume now.”

The woman who helped her start again was leading anti-slavery campaigner Marissa Begonia, who founded The Voice of Domestic Workers charity, and whose work is being backed by this newspaper as part of its Slaves On Our Streets campaign.

It was Marissa and her organisation who helped free Anne, and get her a job in London once she had escaped.

She says that it is essential that women like Anne receive such support, as they can often end up confused and frightened in a foreign country, unsure of who to trust or where to turn.

“Abused and underpaid, most of them don't have passports, so when they escape they don’t know whether they are here illegally or not,” Marissa said. That is why VODM make sure they provide as much care to people like Anne after they escape as they do in organising the escape in the first place.

Anne is still so scared of her previous employers that she has requested this newspaper does not use her real name. Marissa, who escaped two abusive employers herself, says this is typical of the domestic workers she has freed, who often take years to recover from the abuse they go through.

Marissa says she has seen hundreds of cases like Anne’s. “We have been doing rescue missions ever since we started nine years ago. Every Sunday we meet, and more and more workers turn up. They have bruises, there are cases of rape, and they have been attacked with boiling water.”

That is why VODM is now calling for the government to ease the bureaucracy that faces domestic workers who escape abusive employers holding them in slavery. This will help others in situations like Anne to fight their case.

Despite her new life, Anne’s situation is still precarious. The Saudi family she escaped from still have her passport, so she does not know when her visa expires.

She is therefore having to wait to be referred to the National Referral Mechanism, the process by which victims of modern slavery are assessed. Only then will she find out whether she will be granted a two-year visa to keep working here, or be sent back to the Philippines.

Kevin Hyland, the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, backed Marissa’s calls for this process to be reformed so that others in Anne’s situation get dealt with more efficiently.

“We made recommendations to the government, and I'm confident we're going to see very significant changes to that support,” Mr Hyland said.

Yesterday the Home Office announced it would reform the National Referral Mechanism to seek to improve support for victims of human trafficking and modern slavery.

The government acknowledges migrant domestic workers are vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. Yet they continue to ignore calls for reforms to the Overseas Domestic Worker visa that would strengthen their rights, safeguard against abuse and ensure workers are able to access justice.

What are migrant workers' rights

In 2012, without consultation of NGOs, migrant community organisations or domestic workers themselves, the government introduced the tied visa system. This meant domestic workers coming to the UK were tied to their employer for a maximum of six months, with no right to renewal or extension beyond this time.

It prohibited workers from changing employers in the UK and in effect prevented them from challenging any abuse. If a worker did leave their employer, they were in breach of the terms of their visa and at risk of deportation.

The changes were widely criticised by politicians, academics, unions, and NGOs. Evidence showed levels of abuse were significantly higher for those on the tied visa from those on the original visa.

In April 2016, after a long and sustained campaign by several parties, the government made limited changes to the visa. After 4 years and after admitting approximately 68,000 workers to the UK, the government accepted that workers in abusive and exploitative relationships should be allowed to leave their employer without becoming criminalised for doing so, but only for the term of their six month visa.

Many victims do not know they have the right to change employer, and at any rate it is meaningless without the right to renew a visa. They usually do not have references and in many cases don’t have their passport or visa, which have been withheld by their abusers. This is unattractive to prospective employers. Workers are left with the choice of remaining in an exploitative situation, risking a new one, or with no work and no recourse to public funds, becoming destitute.

The right to change employer in the first six months does not lead to workers having greater confidence in reporting their employers. It strengthens the hand of the exploitative employer. The law is failing those it ought to protect.

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