New law to make exploitation of migrant workers punishable under human trafficking law
The Dutch government wants to explicitly make exploiting migrant workers a criminal offense. Migrant workers now often find themselves living in terrible conditions and earning very little, and that is currently too difficult to tackle, according to State Secretary Eric van der Burg of Justice and Security and Minister Karien van Gennip of Social Affairs and Employment. They, therefore, want to make it punishable under the human trafficking act, according to a new bill published for consultation on Tuesday.
“You sometimes see people are brought from abroad and then have to sleep in a barn with fifty people,” Van der Burg said to NOS. There are stories of migrant workers earning barely enough to eat and having to hand in their passports to the employment agency. “All examples of things that are unacceptable but which have been difficult to act against recently. But to which we say: unacceptable.”
The bill introduces the term “serious disadvantage” of employees. Someone caught exploiting their workers will be criminally prosecuted for serious disadvantage. “What this involves, for example, is if you bring migrant workers to the Netherlands as an employment agency and then let them sleep on wooden bunkbeds without a shower. That is a serious disadvantage,” said Van Gennip. “If you let people work overtime without paying them properly, that is also serious disadvantage.”
The bill also requires employers who hire people through an employment agency to check that the people they hire are not being exploited. They have to check that their workers have decent living quarters and get enough pay.
This kind of exploitation is already not allowed under the current rules. But according to the Cabinet, making it explicitly punishable makes it easier to act against. “Until now, it has always been tackled through the labor inspectorate and labor law. We say: no, this is the exploitation of people in a weak position. That is why we also included it in the article of law that deals with human trafficking,” said Van der Burg.
The bill went up for consultation on Tuesday. Citizens and organizations can comment on the law before it goes to parliament. The government may choose to amend the bill after the consultation.
