Iceland ‘slaves’ worse off in freedom
The house in the South Iceland town of Vík where the accused man is thought to have kept the two women in the basement.
The two women though to be victims of a slave labour operation in South Iceland went “out of the frying pan into the fire” when they were rescued, it is claimed.
Reports suggest that the two Sri Lankan women were placed in a women’s shelter and left entirely to their own devices – with no work permit and an allowance of less than €40 a week.
Almost nothing else was done for the two women, says their legal counsel Kristrún Elsa Harðardóttir, and they were materially in a worse position in freedom than before they were “rescued” from their situation of forced labour.
Harðardóttir told national broadcaster RÚV that Iceland provides for an action plan for such cases of slavery – including the intervention of emergency services – but that this was not implemented in the case of these two victims.
She took the case to Iceland’s Home Affairs Minister Ólöf Nordal and initially received a positive response. Since then, however, the ministry has fallen silent.
Owing to a lack of support, no work permit, and insufficient allowance money to survive, the two women were forced to leave the country, Harðardóttir claims.
The supposed victims in this slavery case now number six – the two women from Sri Lanka and another four individuals from Europe. The man suspected of exploiting them has been released from custody but is banned from leaving the country while the investigation continues.
