The FHT is extremely saddened by recent media reports that highlight the number of manicurists working in UK nail bars who are at the mercy of human traffickers. It is estimated that there are around 100,000 Vietnamese manicurists working in the UK, though only 29,000 Vietnamese-born migrants are officially registered in census data.
Peter Bone MP, a former chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on human trafficking, is quoted in an article in The Sunday Times, saying “The scale is enormous and it’s totally hidden.” The article goes on to report that the illegal immigrants are lured into Britain on the promise of high wages. They are charged up to £20,000 by the crime syndicates smuggling them into the UK, ‘only to be forced to work for gangsters for years to repay the debt’. It is also alleged that many of these workers are forced into prostitution.
The FHT, which has held a national register of professional beauty therapists since 1972, at the suggestion of the Minister of Employment, stresses the importance of employers and the public checking that their manicurists are members or a respected professional association and hold appropriate insurance to practice. “We are shocked by these reports and our sympathy goes out to the victims involved”, says John French, FHT Chief Executive. “However, it does highlight that employers and the public need to be vigilant when recruiting manicurists or visiting a nail bar. Of course, not all Vietnamese-born manicurists working in nail bars will be illegal immigrants and victims of human trafficking, hence the importance of checking that all therapists are on a professional register”.
For more information:
The Sunday Times http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/Society/article1302165.ece
The Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/20/nail-bars-slavery-trafficking-vietnam
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