Human-rights lawyers are warning that abuse claims by Moroccans picking fruit in Spain for UK supermarkets could amount to “state-sponsored human trafficking”.
The international lawyers say Spanish authorities have a legal duty to ensure the allegations by the women – that they have faced exploitation and abuse while harvesting strawberries – are properly investigated by the courts.
Ten Moroccan women have fought for more than a year to have their claims of rape, exploitation and abuse, investigated by the Huelva police and justice system. They, with thousands of other Moroccan women, had travelled to Spain in 2018 to work in the strawberry harvest through a bilateral visa arrangement between the two countries.
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