Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade

I greatly enjoyed the contribution of the hon. Member for Glasgow, North (Ann McKechin), who wove aspects of Glasgow’s role in the slave trade into some of the modern challenges we face, and on which I hope to comment. I pay tribute to my right hon. Friend the Member for North-West Hampshire (Sir George Young) who paid tribute to his ancestors—I hope that many more George Youngs will grace the Chamber talking about this and other subjects. The debate has been comprehensive, enjoyable and informative, although I was sceptical about participating in it. After I heard the Prime Minister apologise for the slave trade, I wondered what else we might need to apologise for. Should we apologise for the Croke Park stadium massacre in Ireland, or the Rorke’s Drift incident? Should the fire brigade apologise because the Pudding lane fire in 1666 was not put out in time and led to the great fire of London? Political correctness seems to creep in occasionally. However dark our history, is it for today’s leaders to apologise for events with which they have no direct connection? Perhaps the symbolism attached to such events makes it appropriate to comment on them. We certainly have much to learn about them. The debate is certainly worth having; it is not only a reminder of what has been achieved over the past 200 years but a stark reminder of how far we still have to go. Passing a law to abolish slavery shows a nation’s intention, but implementing it shows a nation’s commitment. When I was researching for the debate, I found—no doubt like other Members—interesting references and snippets of information. We have just celebrated St. Patrick’s day. St. Patrick was a slave. He was born in Roman Britain and taken to Ireland as a slave. He must have grown accustomed to the place because he returned and was involved in the Church, and is remembered on 17 March. Aesop is another slave who has not yet been mentioned in the debate. The inspiration for his famous fables was drawn from his period of slavery. Many historical incidents reflect aspects of slavery and the slave trade, but the most important thing to remember is that slavery is not just connected with Africa. It forms a darker chapter in the development of every world civilisation. In the book of Exodus, which may be one of the first detailed accounts of a movement to free slaves, we read how Moses led the Israelite slaves from ancient Egypt. Other Members have mentioned that slavery formed part of life in the ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman empires. Even the Vikings participated in slavery. Japan had advanced laws governing slavery from the eighth century. In all those civilisations, there were common factors in slavery. Enslavement could be the punishment for a crime or the consequence of a debt. Prisoners of war could be enslaved. Even more seriously, some people were born as slaves and grew up already part of the slave operation. As Rome expanded, entire populations were enslaved and we pay tribute to many people who opposed their slavery. The name of Spartacus will be familiar—he led the revolt in the third Servile war—but we should pay tribute to many others across the globe. The middle east is probably responsible for one of the oldest slave trades. Male slaves were used as servants, soldiers or labourers by their owners and the practice continued until the 20th century. Closer to home, although slavery in the form of the trade of serfs was made illegal in England in 1102, it was used as a punishment by Cromwell’s new model army to deal with Catholics in Ireland. Their land was confiscated and they were sent to the West Indies. Serfdom resurfaced when ““personal servants””, as slaves were called, were brought from Africa in the 18th century—the aspect on which most of the debate has focused. We stand alongside many other European countries, including Portugal, Holland and France, as the main perpetrators of slavery, robbing Africa of its people and developing what is now referred to as the triangular trade that linked Europe, Africa and the new world. As has been said, until 1772 the legal status of slaves was unclear. The first challenge came from James Somerset, a runaway slave whose owner wanted to pack him off to Jamaica. However, because he had been baptised in England, he could take his case to the courts and the judge decided that under common law slavery had no legal status, which meant that the 14,000 or so slaves in England at the time were emancipated. The British anti-slavery movement, under the Quakers, did not begin until 1783. In May 1787, the committee for the abolition of the slave trade was formed, and included various people we have already heard about today—Joseph Woods, William Wilberforce and Granville Sharp. From 1789, abolition Bills were repeatedly proposed until eventually George III approved one on this day 200 years ago. But, of course, the measure did not free the slaves. It simply made the slave trade illegal. As has been mentioned, slaves were not freed until 1833. It is interesting to note that the Church was not exempt from participating in the trade. In 1834, following the emancipation of slaves under an Act of Parliament, the Bishop of Exeter received compensation of £100 per slave. He was forced to set free 665 slaves. The supply of slaves, mostly from Africa, and the demand in the Americas is at the heart of today’s debate. It is estimated that about 15 million people were shipped from Africa. Sadly, about 15 per cent. of them died while being captured or on route. The great majority were shipped to the Americas. When I visited the national museum in Tobago quite recently, I was astonished to read some of the extracts and accounts not only from some of the slaves that had been freed, but, more hauntingly, from some of the traffickers and the traders, who had labelled slaves in various groups—almost like cattle stock. They referred to the slaves’ strengths, co-operativeness, brains and so forth, depending on what part of Africa they had come from. That is how advanced the trade had become. The growth of the colonies fed the appetite for slaves. Jamestown led the way by writing into law the rights of slave ownership. With Canada and Mexico banning slavery in 1810, a complex network of escape routes to allow slaves to depart from the colonies, either north or south, was created by people who were trying for abolition. Harriet Tubman was one of the founders of what was called the underground railway, which allowed slaves to move either north or south and get away from their owners. The slavery issue was not reconciled until the American civil war. There are many factors that one could say led to the dividing of the nation. I was pleased to hear the Deputy Prime Minister pay tribute to the replica of the Amistad, the slave ship that sailed in 1839, with a host of slaves on board. That replica is coming to the United Kingdom shortly. The original ship set out from the African slave factory in Lomboko, which is now Sierra Leone. While it was heading towards Cuba, there was a mutiny and the slaves took over the ship. They did not know where they were going. They wanted to return to Africa, but they were misled by the Spanish who were still on the ship and ended up heading up the coast of the United States. The ship was eventually stopped by the USS Washington—by the American navy. There followed a long and public battle, which eventually led to a judgment by the Supreme Court. Thanks to a former President, John Quincy Adams, that represented a major breakthrough for the abolitionists. It is interesting to look at the views of the sitting President, Martin Van Buren. I managed to get an extract from the Hartford Courant, which was obviously the Bournemouth Daily Echo of its day. It states:"““Martin Van Buren addressed a letter to the Judge recommending and urging him to order the Africans to be taken back to Havana in a government vessel, to be sold there as ""slaves—and…about the same time the U.S. schooner Grampus was ordered to New Haven for the purpose of receiving them…Surely Martin Van Buren is playing the part of a tyrant with a high hand—else why this tampering with our courts of justice, this Executive usurpation, and this heartless violation of the inalienable rights of man?””" It is a welcome sign of the times that the press in that day had the freedom to make such comments, but the extract is also an indication of the society of the day, in which slavery was so accepted that the President wanted to interfere with a court case simply to ensure the status quo. Such events cut the nation in two and clearly led to the civil war. It was not until after the civil war, under Abraham Lincoln, that the 13th amendment was signed to declare slavery unlawful. However, although the law changed, attitudes did not, and from that time blacks were considered to be second-class citizens. As we know, there was segregation, and it was not until the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s that blacks obtained legal protection from racial discrimination. Sadly, the slow speed of reform is perhaps at the heart of the problems that exist in the United States, which have galvanised attitudes. Of course, the oppression of individuals, countries and races is not limited simply to blacks. We should pay tribute to those who were caught up in the Japanese labour camps, such as those involved in the Burma railway, the concentration camps in Nazi Germany and the Russian gulags. We should not forget the heroes who fought and, in many cases, died to challenge the regimes that advocated those forms of slavery. Let me move on to the challenges that we face now. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Totnes (Mr. Steen), who spoke with passion about the problems of human trafficking, as did other hon. Members. The idea of slavery has not disappeared; it has simply gone underground. Despite various acts by the United Nations, including drafting article IV of the universal declaration of human rights, which explicitly bans slavery, it is still a problem today. A UN report suggests that the victims of slavery come from some 127 countries throughout the world. The major destinations of victims include wealthy countries in western Europe, north America and the middle east. As has been said again and again, women make up 70 per cent. of worldwide trafficking cases and sexual exploitation is a factor in 87 per cent. of those cases, while forced labour is another factor. People are encouraged to leave their home countries under false pretences. They are enticed by being told that a better life is ahead of them. They are promised work in the hospitality or domestic work industries, but once they reach their destination, their official documents are removed and they are forced into either bonded labour, or prostitution. I understand from the police that about 4,000 people are involved in some form of forced prostitution in the United Kingdom at any one time. The gangs behind the trade buy and sell women for between £2,000 and £8,000. Even though the individuals are given a small amount of money, they are hugely in debt, so they can never get out of the circle of distress in which they find themselves. I am pleased that the Government have taken a number of initiatives. The Sexual Offences Act 2003 introduced a new offence of trafficking someone into the UK for the purposes of sexual exploitation, while the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Act 2004 criminalised the trafficking of people for any form of exploitation. Although I was encouraged by the words of the Deputy Prime Minister, we must—this has been repeated time and again—finally ratify the Council of Europe convention on action against trafficking in human beings. Ratification is long overdue. The convention addresses the standards of living that are capable of ensuring individuals’ subsistence, access to emergency medical treatment, translation and interpretation services, and counselling and information. We should be providing such vital things, given that our colleagues across the water in Europe have already agreed to do so. The Conservative party is in tandem with other parties on this matter. We have made major announcements on tackling human trafficking, as my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond, Yorks (Mr. Hague) pointed out. We not only want the Council of Europe convention to be signed, but believe that we need to establish a UK border police force with expertise in intercepting traffickers and victims at our borders. We think that there should be separate interviews at all airports for women and children travelling alone with an adult who is not a parent, guardian or husband. We should strengthen co-ordination among the relevant Government Departments and the Serious Organised Crime Agency to tackle the problem. We should also ensure that every police force has a strategy to deal with suspected victims of trafficking. In conclusion, it has been a sobering debate, allowing us to reacquaint ourselves with the challenges of the future as well as to celebrate some of the successes from the past. Britain can certainly be proud of its actions in righting many of those wrongs, but let us not forget that slavery takes many forms and that, despite the progress made in removing the legitimate and overt forms of slavery, it is now the illegitimate and covert exploitation of slavery that still exists. There is much work to be done and if Britain is to continue as a beacon for human rights, we must recognise the advances in transport and communication that have led to the development of a truly global challenge in respect of the trafficking of humans. If we are finally to stop the appalling trade of human traffic, we must have an international effort. We celebrate the anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade, but let us use this opportunity to recommit ourselves to tackling slavery in the horrible and horrendous form that it has taken—and always will take.