MODERN slavery protections should be introduced in Jersey to protect migrant workers, alongside ending the system that ties their housing to their jobs, an equality campaigner has argued.
Kate Wright – chief executive of domestic abuse charity FREEDA, chair of the equality charity Jersey Community Relations Trust, and former chair of the Violence Against Women and Girls Taskforce – said Jersey’s immigration and housing policies leave many migrant workers in situations that are open to exploitation, unsafe living conditions and abuse.
Her comments came following The Observer’s investigation into the death of Kenyan worker Jane Kiiti.
Ms Kiiti worked in Jersey for two decades under the seasonal-permit system before dying by suicide in October 2023 – the day after attending a meeting with the Jersey Customs and Immigration Service.
As uncovered by former JEP investigations editor Orlando Crowcroft, the seasonal worker was in chronic pain from a workplace injury in 2019 and was anxious about her immigration status while supporting her daughter through university in Kenya as a single mother.
Responding, Mrs Wright said: “At FREEDA, we see this often. Women too afraid to report abuse because they fear losing their right to stay. Mothers whose legal status is weaponised by partners. Children growing up in temporary housing with no future. Migrant workers alone, constantly on edge, and without support.”
The campaigner continued: ‘The VAWG Taskforce report, published in November 2023, exposed how dangerously intertwined immigration policy and gender-based violence are.
“Research by the Jersey Community Relations Trust echoes this: migrant residents feel invisible, silenced and dispensable.
“This is not a criticism of Customs and Immigration staff. Many have shown real willingness to reflect and implement the VAWG Taskforce’s recommendations. They work within laws designed by others.
“The problem lies not with the people inside the system – but with the system itself. It is opaque, outdated, ruthlessly transactional – and wholly reformable.”
She argued that reform must begin by separating accommodation from employment and giving temporary workers the same legal protections against exploitation as in the UK.
She said: “Migrant workers often live in shared, sometimes sub-standard accommodation, where women in particular face vulnerability. I’ve heard harrowing reports of sexual assault.
“They’re paid minimal wages, discouraged from complaining and often reliant on landlords who are also their bosses.”
The equality champion linked Ms Kiiti’s death to a series of other incidents, including the death of Filipino farm worker George Michael Monte De Ramos Castrudes in January this year from carbon monoxide poisoning after lighting a fire in his portable cabin on a Grouville farm to keep warm.
She also pointed to reports of severe racial abuse at Jersey’s General Hospital last year, which former Health chief officer Chris Bown said was so bad it “would make you weep.”
Ms Wright said Jersey’s seasonal-permit system gives employers significant control over workers’ housing, healthcare and right to remain – which, she said, creates a power imbalance that enables exploitation and silences complaints.
“Employers who benefit from migrant labour owe more than gratitude. They owe protection, choice – and change,” she wrote.
Her proposals include modern slavery protections for temporary workers, full healthcare and legal support from day one, independent grievance and safeguarding systems, and transparent reporting on racism and abuse.
She also called on employers to review their policies, speak directly to staff, and ensure complaints can be made without fear of reprisal.
“Employers can choose control or compassion. They decide whether to demand silence or offer sanctuary,” she wrote. “Let Jane’s story be the wake-up call. Not just another tragedy, but a reckoning. One that leads to real, lasting change.”
Jersey’s seasonal worker rules
- Seasonal work permits were introduced in 2000 and allow up to nine months’ work, after which workers must leave the Island for three months each year
- Housing rights are linked to residential status, which for seasonal workers is tied to their job.
- For the first six months, seasonal workers have no healthcare access beyond emergency treatment.
- Until recently, migrants needed written employer permission to take other work
