| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Mr. Ingram: The hon. Gentleman is correct about that. However, five years later, when the United Nations tried to deal with the matter again, the Liberals had gone in a different direction, despite the five years in which Saddam further ignored the existing resolutions and resolution 1441. The Liberals' flip-flop approach is not very helpful.
Mr. Ingram:
I want to make one or two points about the hon. Gentleman's speech. He asked for clarification about the air policing of Baltic states—Estonia and
21 Oct 2004 : Column 1115
Lithuania. We have jets there, but they will be withdrawn in January 2005. We will be replaced by the Norwegians.
The hon. Gentleman also mentioned the tour of duty of HMS Richmond in the West Indies. I served a night on the ship recently—[Hon. Members: "Served?"] I was going to say that I served the drinks on the ship, but I decided not to do so in case that led to other comments. I spent a night with the ship's crew. I probably spoke to most of them and I was able to pay tribute to all that they did for hurricane relief.
Mr. Keetch: Does the Minister believe that every person in the House who opposed the war in Iraq and every person who marched on the streets in opposition to that war wanted Saddam Hussein to stay in power?
Mr. Ingram: Of course I do not think that at all. I respect those people's opinion, but I ask a party that purports to be a possible party of government—no matter how far it is from that eventuality—to think seriously about the way in which it has flip-flopped on the issue. It took a firm view on Operation Desert Fox because it had a specific purpose and was consistent with UN Security Council resolutions. However, we then had five more years of the problem during which Saddam Hussein continued to reject and ignore Security Council resolutions, but because the Liberal Democrats identified an anti-war sentiment, they started to exploit it for political purposes. That is why I disagree fundamentally with the hon. Gentleman and his party.
The hon. Member for North Tayside (Pete Wishart) talked about the future of the Black Watch. He would have benefited from being more involved in such debates in the past because he would then have been able to understand the wider and more complex issues that we are trying to address.
Mr. Luke: The hon. Member for North Tayside (Pete Wishart) drew the Minister's attention to the rally on Saturday in Dundee to save the regiment. A parade of the regimental associations of the Black Watch will also take place. Does he have a message to pass on to those people?
Mr. Ingram: I am more than willing to meet the associations, and I know that my ministerial colleagues are willing to do the same. I met representatives of the Highlanders' association on Monday. We have a strong message to give to those people, especially those who serve in the regiments. We value the regimental system. We are looking at a form of transforming the Army that is justified and sound.
At the end of the process, it will give us more deployable battalions—better equipped, better resourced and better respected by those who may have thought otherwise in the developing debate.
The hon. Member for North Tayside really should have a—
It being Six o'clock, the motion for the Adjournment of the House lapsed, without Question put.
21 Oct 2004 : Column 1116
Child Trafficking
Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—[Jim Fitzpatrick.]
6 pm
Mr. John Bercow (Buckingham): I welcome the chance to raise the issue of child trafficking. In this Session of Parliament, there have been 10 parliamentary questions in the House of Commons on this subject and one truly excellent Adjournment debate initiated by the hon. Member for Northampton, North (Ms Keeble). Beyond that, the subject has been mentioned in a number of debates, but I suggest that parliamentary attention to it has been woefully inadequate to the scale of the challenge that we face.
The United Nations estimates that 1.2 million children are trafficked internally and externally a year. There were 250 known cases of children trafficked into the UK between 1995 and 2003. This number, however, should not be taken as an indication that this is not a significant problem. It is impossible to estimate the true extent of trafficking, owing to the lack of reliable data. The underground nature of the business and the lack of co-ordinated research have hindered progress in explaining its extent. The groundbreaking research paper by ECPAT UK—End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes—on trafficking in London discovered that social services departments in 32 of the 33 London boroughs were concerned that they had a problem with child trafficking.
No estimate of income from child trafficking alone has been made, but global profits from people trafficking as a whole are approximately £5 billion per year. This evil trade in human beings is big business. The profits are approximately six times those of our most successful food retailer in Britain—Tesco. The profitability of people trafficking is second only to the trafficking of drugs and arms. Indeed, there appears even to be a crossover with those other forms of international organised crime, with trafficked children being used as drug mules.
Large-scale trafficking takes place within countries or to neighbouring countries within the developing world. In west Africa, children are often sent to live with "relatives" in cities, in effect becoming domestic slaves. In eastern Europe, young women are trafficked from desperately poor areas to relatively wealthy neighbouring countries. European Union accession states are prime destination and transit countries for the conduct of this business. In Asia, women and children are trafficked from Burma to Thailand for work in the sex trade, begging or labouring in a number of different industries.
Children are trafficked to the United Kingdom to be exploited in a number of ways. Often Britain is targeted as a transit country on the way to other European destinations. The most high-profile cases are those of sexual exploitation through prostitution or the making of child porn. Children's lives are shattered by such experiences, but this is just one way in which children are abused. Domestic servitude is a significant problem, although one that is difficult to detect as children are kept away from the authorities. Child labour, organised
21 Oct 2004 : Column 1117
begging, forced marriage, benefit fraud, adoption and the practice of black magic rituals are further purposes for which children are trafficked.
The high-profile cases of Victoria Climbié, who was trafficked to the UK by her aunt in order to commit benefit fraud; of "Adam", the Nigerian boy whose torso was discovered in the Thames; and of controversial alleged baby smuggler evangelist Gilbert Deya, are just the tip of the iceberg.
We must also not forget—indeed, the debate gives us an opportunity to remember—the cases that the media do not so readily pick up. For example, "Dayo", a 15-year-old Nigerian girl, was trafficked to the United Kingdom for work as a domestic slave. She worked long hours looking after three children, as well as cooking and cleaning. After a few months, friends of the family with which she lived left their children in her care. By the time she was 16, she was looking after no fewer than seven children. She received no payment, was regularly beaten savagely and was subjected to rape attempts by the father of the family.
There is the complex case of "Lydia", a 16-year-old Albanian girl who was trafficked to Italy by her boyfriend. He had prostituted her from the age of 14 in Albania but promised her a new life. She believed him and hoped to escape her abusive family. However, she was forced into prostitution. She came into contact with social services in London, claiming to have escaped her trafficker, but disappeared soon afterwards, probably falling back into his clutches. Social services in London also had to deal with the distressing case of a 13-year-old Vietnamese girl who was brought to the United Kingdom and kept in a house as a prostitute. She managed to escape after breaking a window.
Those are only some of the cases about which we know. How many more children, who are not fortunate enough to come into contact with a non-governmental organisation or social services department to help them to escape, are being exploited? We need to do far more to combat the evil trade in human lives and help its victims to recover their lives.
First, we need to work with source countries to help to mitigate the factors that facilitate trafficking. The Government are already working with agencies in Romania and the Czech Republic; and the Department for International Development, whose Under-Secretary I am delighted to see in the Chamber listening to the debate, funds NGOs that work on anti-trafficking projects. Despite those efforts, much more needs to be done. Raising awareness of the trafficking problem must be a top priority. Parents must be made aware that they are not sending their children to a better life when they put them in the hands of traffickers. New communities in Britain can help by sending the message to their contacts in the developing world about the grim prospect that awaits the victims of trafficking.
The myriad problems of underdevelopment, poverty, lack of education, conflict, weak institutions and poor governance work in the traffickers' favour. We can combat those by helping Governments to tackle corruption and fund the necessary social expenditure to protect vulnerable children. In Russia alone, 620,000 children are social orphans. Given the paucity of welfare spending there, every one of them is vulnerable to trafficking. The same applies to a vast number of
21 Oct 2004 : Column 1118
developing countries, which, I am sorry to say, spend far more on propping up their military or police apparatus than on public services or help for their poorest citizens. In Africa, HIV/AIDS has ravaged whole communities and destroyed family structures. Traffickers are targeting the orphans and vulnerable children left behind.
In addition, we need to work to improve children's status. That is especially true of girls in the developing world who, all too often and deplorably, are treated not as human beings with human rights but as pieces of property and items for barter. Close and extended co-operation between the Home Office and the Department for International Development is vital.
We must expand our support for Governments and NGOs to provide shelter and care for victims of trafficking. In many cases, returned children are rejected by their families or are fearful of returning home in case the trafficker finds them. It is essential that proper provisions be made to prevent retrafficking and to allow children to recover.
We must not return children to an environment in which they are likely, once again, to be exploited.
There is much to be done within the United Kingdom. Recent legislation has criminalised trafficking, but to tackle the trade, we need to work in three broad areas: at ports of entry, in tracking children who depart and in bolstering services for those who are exploited and damaged.
First, we need to build up services at ports of entry. The findings of Operation Paladin showed that the most effective way to intercept the trade is to intercept children as they pass through immigration before they disappear into the world outside the airport and face likely exploitation. Officers—whether immigration staff, police or social workers—specially trained to read body language and identify children at risk should be stationed in substantial numbers at all major ports of entry. In addition, we need to work with airlines, as they may be able to identify children at risk on their flights.
Secondly, let us establish an effective mechanism to track children when they leave the airport. The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children has recommended the assignment of identity numbers to all risk-assessed children. It is also calling for the establishment of a register to monitor private fostering, as it is suspected that a substantial proportion of the 10,000 children privately fostered in the UK are, in fact, victims of trafficking. Communication between the various agencies involved must also be improved to track children and rescue victims—for example, to provide co-ordination between the police and social services, to target so-called hot addresses that frequently come to the attention of social workers.
Thirdly, in seeking to assist child victims, social workers need to be trained both to recognise cases of trafficking and to handle them effectively. There are no national guidelines to advise social services, and many workers have complained of feeling ill-equipped to deal with trafficking cases. In addition, we must ensure that the support services are in place to help children to overcome their ordeal. Safe, secure housing, education and counselling are all essential. There are currently no facilities to deal specifically with trafficked children. That is simply unacceptable.
21 Oct 2004 : Column 1119
As I hope I have demonstrated, the problem of child trafficking is acute, growing and under-recognised. Those who profit from it and drive its expansion remind us of the extent of human evil. They cannot be ignored; they must not be appeased; they have to be confronted and defeated. There is a big challenge to policy makers to act nationally, internationally and in concert with our European partners. I doubt whether there is any difference between the Minister and me about the importance of tackling the problem and protecting children. I have sought to make a constructive contribution this evening, and I look forward to the Minister's constructive reply.
6.13 pm
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |