MIGRANT fishermen who have been recognised as victims of modern slavery on UK vessels are seeking compensation from the Government, after human rights lawyers took up their case. Leigh Day partner Stephanie Hill represents a small group of Ghanaian fishermen in legal proceedings.
The claimants argue that the UK Government breached their human rights not to be held in slavery or servitude and not to perform forced or compulsory labour. The rights are laid down in Article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights and contained in UK law in the Human Rights Act 1998.
The men were rescued from abject conditions on the UK-based scallop trawler, the Olivia Jean, by charity Stella Maris in 2020.
The trawler is part of a fleet called TN Trawlers, a company owned by Thomas Iain Nicholson or by TN Enterprises Ltd, which is in turn owned by Thomas Iain Nicholson and his sons. The company is named in a recent BBC expose of trafficking and modern slavery “Workers ‘treated like slaves’ on Scottish fishing boats”.
Similar to the fishermen featured in the BBC documentary and a File on 4 investigation, the Leigh Day clients had been given leave to enter the UK as contract seamen.
However, once on the vessel, they were subject to modern slavery and forced labour: they worked excessively long hours without time off, were threatened, intimidated, verbally abused, including with racist language, and had to use faulty and dangerously inadequate equipment. Their living conditions were grossly unsanitary and cramped; they were not able to access safe drinking water, adequate food or medical treatment. They did not have leave to enter and remain on UK shores and could not leave their vessel and enter the UK lawfully even when it was at port.
The claimants argue that the Home Office breached their rights protected by Article 4 ECHR by failing to have in place systems to protect their rights and the rights of contract seamen like them from human trafficking, modern slavery and forced labour. The claimants argue that the Home Office also failed identify them as being at real and immediate risks of trafficking and exploitation and failed to take steps to protect them, including by removing them from that situation or risk of that situation.
As part of the men’s claim against the Home Office, the Leigh Day team highlighted how International seafarers’ charities and the media have documented numerous incidents of exploitation. Their reports show how migrant seamen on transit visas are in a distinct position of vulnerability because they have no lawful immigration status or statutory employment rights in the UK and how vessel owners rely on this position of vulnerability in their exploitation of the migrant seamen.
Leigh Day partner Stephanie Hill said: “Our clients remain deeply traumatised by their experiences of trafficking and forced labour on the Olivia Jean. They claim that the Home Office breached their human rights by failing to have in place adequate systems to protect them from trafficking and modern slavery. Further, they also claim that that the Home Office failed to properly investigate these serious claims of trafficking and modern slavery. They seek a declaration that their rights have been breached and compensation to vindicate their rights.
“Our clients’ experiences in 2020 are remarkably similar to those highlighted by the BBC and it is alarming how many people appear to have been affected by this. Also similar to the fishermen in the documentary, our clients are also seeking to ensure that the police properly investigate the complaints they have made about the perpetrators of this abuse and exploitation.”
Stella Maris, the charity which rescued the men, is the largest ship-visiting network in the world. Through local chaplains and seafarer centres it provides expert information, advocacy, and spiritual support.
* More information on the work of Stella Maris here.
* Source: Leigh Day