UK bill risks denying Fayed accusers trafficking status
Eleanor Lyons, the UK's Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, has warned that credibility tests in the immigration and asylum bill could cause survivors of sexual violence to be wrongly denied recognition as human trafficking victims. The Guardian
Those affected would include women who say they were abused by Mohamed Al Fayed.
Under the proposals, Home Office officials would have to treat any delay in making a modern slavery or trafficking claim as damaging to credibility. Any inaccuracy, inconsistency or omission in a person's account would also have to be treated as a reason for disbelief. The same would apply where one claim bears a striking similarity to another person's claim.
Lyons raised the concern in connection with No One Above, a collective of survivors of alleged abuse by Fayed. One member, Holly Johnson, says she was trafficked and sexually abused while working at Harrods and at Fayed's Park Lane offices. Another member, Pelham Spong, says she was trafficked in Paris on Fayed's orders in 2008 and sent to London to be sexually assaulted by him.
Fayed died in 2023. In 2024, Harrods declared that it would not enforce non-disclosure agreements signed by alleged victims.
Lyons appeared before the House of Commons Public Bill Committee to raise concerns about new laws affecting victims. The bill is formally titled the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill. UK Parliament Sections 36 to 39 propose changes to modern slavery protections, while clauses 25 to 34 reform prevention and risk orders.
In 2025, 23,407 potential victims of modern slavery were referred to the Home Office, the highest annual number since the National Referral Mechanism, the system for referring potential victims, began. UK Government Britain's Modern Slavery Act of 2015 required large businesses to tackle slavery in their supply chains.
