Immigration lawyers must become more ‘victim-focused’ if they are to stop giving unwitting help to human traffickers, a top European lawyer has told the Gazette.

Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, a lawyer and deputy secretary-general of the Council of Europe, said trafficking could go undetected when practitioners endorsed visa applications without making enquiries.

‘When employers apply for visas on behalf of their employees, it’s the solicitor’s duty to check that those employees are free agents and not being abused,’ she said. ‘It’s difficult, but being completely victim-focused is the best way to stop the trafficking of up to 600,000 people in Europe every year.’

Boer-Buquicchio, in London to give the keynote address at last week’s annual congress of the European Women Lawyers Association, added: ‘Solicitors should commit to the three Ps of the European convention against trafficking in human beings – protection, prosecution and prevention. If we put the victim at the centre of everything we do, we can identify groups at risk and put an end to exploitation.’

Her visit coincided with the conclusion of a major UK police operation – Pentameter 2 – that saw 528 traffickers arrested and 167 victims released. She said: ‘Pentameter 2 was exactly true to the spirit of the convention – victim-oriented and sensitive to their feelings.’

Her visit also coincided with the publication of The New Bonded Labour, a report by charities Kalayaan and Oxfam into the exploitation of migrant domestic workers accompanying their employers to the UK. Many of the 17,000 domestics granted visas each year went on to endure beatings, rape and starvation wages – despite living in some of the most affluent areas of the country.

Graeme Kirk, an immigration specialist and senior partner at Suffolk firm Gross & Co, said: ‘As practitioners the best we can do is make representations to the Home Office when they run away from their employers – and try very hard to deal only with reputable families in the first place.’