Child trafficking
38. In 2006 ECPAT UK's research covering three regions
of the UK found 80 reported cases of known or suspected child
trafficking. 28% of these children were under 16 years old.[78]
CEOP's scoping study for the Government[79]which
was based on information held by the statutory services and NGOsidentified
330 possible victims who had been in contact with those services
over an 18 month period. CEOP considered that in just over 30%
of these cases there was a high probability that the child had
been trafficked. Building on this, CEOP's data for the 2008 Strategic
Threat Assessment also showed 330 possible child victims, but
this time over a 12 month period and, because the quality of the
data was better, it was believed there was a strong probability
of trafficking in 53% of the cases.[80]
From past research and interviews with local authorities, ECPAT
UK believes a very conservative estimate would be "at any
given time a minimum of 600 children, known or suspected of being
trafficked, will be in the asylum system or will have been in
the asylum system before going missing from local authority care".
ECPAT UK points out that this is 10% of the Home Office's figure
of 6,000 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in the system.[81]
39. Again, it is very unlikely that these figures
represent anything more than a minority of cases of trafficked
children. They do not, for example, take into account children
accompanied by an adult when entering the UK who are then subject
to abuse by that adult or someone else to whom they are handed.
Europol told us that it had seen a number of cases where gangs
had trafficked large numbers of people into the EU, including
one case where more than 1,000 children had been brought into
the EU for labour exploitation or criminal activities.[82]
It is reasonable to believe that a significant proportion of those
brought into the EU would, at some time or another, enter the
UK.
Overview
40. Trafficking
is a hidden crime: its victims cannot or dare not make themselves
known to the authorities (for fear of retaliation or because they
are or think themselves to be illegal immigrants) and, as we discuss
later,[83]
some
do not even realise that they are victims. They are concealed
by physical isolation or language or cultural barriers, and may
be operating under false identities. It is therefore not surprisingthough
it is frustratingthat no one was able to give us even a
rough estimate of the scale of trafficking in the UK.
41. The UKHTC told us that it was "well advanced
on a multi-agency programme of assessment work around various
areas", and it was working with existing researchers at universities
and would shortly be employing a full-time researcher itself to
co-ordinate data gathering and analysis.[84]
The Home Office Minister, Mr Alan Campbell, explained that his
department was trying to obtain an overall picture of the scale
of trafficking through a three strand approach: it was funding
work on organised crime by ten police intelligence units round
the country, and the role of Human Trafficking in organised crime
would be examined within that; the UKHTC was analysing the data
obtained from Operation Pentameter 2; and SOCA and CEOP were providing
data from their work. He expected that these three strands would
come together some time in 2009 to provide a better assessment
of the scale of the problem.[85]
However, victim support organisations
have been calling for better data on the scale of trafficking
for years, and we had understood that production of such data
(from a variety of sources) was one of the main tasks for which
the UKHTC was established. Without reasonable estimates of the
scale of the problem, it is difficult to raise public awareness
and concern and to engage the variety of professionals who would
be able to play a part in identifying possible victims. It also
makes it impossible to gauge what support services are needed
for victims.
42. We are pleased
that progress is finally being made, but are disappointed it has
not been faster. We look forward to seeing the results of the
Minister's three-pronged approach later this year.
43. Several of the NGOs that gave evidence to us
urged the establishment of an Independent National Rapporteur
with statutory power to request information from the police, the
immigration authorities, social services and NGOs and to report
to Parliament. Its task would be purely that of data collection
and analysis: it would have no operational or policy-making responsibilities.
The UKHTC, they felt, was not sufficiently independent of either
the police or the Government to fulfil this role.[86]
Given the UKHTC's apparent
difficulty in making progress with data collection so far, this
idea has its attractions. However, this would also add yet another
organisation to the multitude involved in analysing and combating
trafficking. An alternative would be to ensure that the UKHTC
is properly resourced for the work of data collection, which should
be given a high priority as it will form the basis of a proper
assessment of the resources needed to tackle human trafficking
and support victims.
10 UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking
in persons Back
11
Q 19; see also Ev 97, para 3.14 Back
12
The Poppy Project has helped German and Swiss women trafficked
for sexual exploitation, for example: Q 52 Back
13
Ev 110, para 2.1 Back
14
Qq 12-13 (Anti-Slavery International) and 402 (CEOP) Back
15
Q 328 Back
16
See paragraph 58 below. Back
17
Q 402 Back
18
Q 328 and Ev 271, para 8 Back
19
Ev 104, para 2 Back
20
Ev 96, para 3.4 (Anti-Slavery International) Back
21
Ibid. and Q 6 Back
22
See, for example, Qq 24 (Anti-Slavery International) and 224
(UKHTC) and Ev 194, para 23 (Home Office) Back
23
In the UK context, debt bondage usually involves making people
work for little or no payment in order to discharge the cost of
getting them to the UK, or to pay fees for finding employment
or for non-existent taxes or charges supposedly levied by the
UK government. Back
24
Qq 25 and 29 and Ev 96, paras 3.8-3.9 (Anti-Slavery International)
and Ev 122- 123 (Kalayaan) Back
25
Q 180 Back
26
Q 57 Back
27
Qq 9-10 (Anti-Slavery International)` Back
28
Q 56 Back
29
Qq 56 and 58 (Poppy Project) Back
30
Q 153 Back
31
In three police force areas, the Authority is the 'first responder'
alongside the police to suspected incidents of labour trafficking:
Q 246 (UKHTC) Back
32
Q 428 (Metropolitan Police) Back
33
Q 11 and Ev 96, para 3.8 (Anti-Slavery International) Back
34
Ev 260 Back
35
Ev 104, para 1 See also Ev 109, para 7 (UNICEF) and EV 205, paras
3.4-4.1 (Refugee Council) Back
36
Qq 19 (Anti-Slavery International) and 53 (Poppy Project), Ev
96, para 3.8 (Anti-Slavery International), Ev 156, para 5.3 (Poppy
Project) According to the Home Office, Chinese victims typically
are forced into prostitution to repay the 'cost' of smuggling
them to the UK: Ev 195, para 27 Back
37
Ev 156, para 5.3 (Poppy Project) and Ev 195, para 26 (Home Office) Back
38
Q 274 (Misha Glenny) Back
39
Q 102 (ECPAT) Back
40
Q 11 Back
41
Qq 11 and 15; see also Ev 97, para 3.7 Back
42
Qq 52 (Poppy Project), 120 and 124 (GLA) The GLA told us that
82% of agricultural gangmasters employ at least some Poles, a
minority employ solely UK nationals: Q 120 Back
43
Ev 104, para 2 Back
44
See paragraphs 147 and 149 below below Back
45
Qq 52 (Poppy Project) and 84 (ECPAT) and Ev 104, paras 2 and 3
(ECPAT) Back
46
Q 53 and Ev 257, para 2.3 (Poppy Project) Back
47
Qq 103-104 (ECPAT) Back
48
Ev 257, table Back
49
Ev 203, para 94 Back
50
Q 18 Back
51
Bordering on Concern: Child Trafficking in Wales, March
2009 Back
52
All figures in this paragraph are cited in US State Department
Trafficking in Persons Report 2008, Introduction Back
53
Q 257 Back
54
Qq 5-7 Back
55
Ev 153, para 1.2 Back
56
Q 325 According to UNICEF, this lack of consistency presents a
particular problem in identifying child victims: Ev 110, para
19 Back
57
Q 345 Back
58
Qq 1 (Anti-Slavery International), 217 (UKHTC) and 325 (Europol) Back
59
Ev 153 (Poppy Project) Back
60
p14 Back
61
Q 2 (Anti-Slavery International) Back
62
Q 73 (Poppy Project) Back
63
Q 50 and Ev 153, para 1.5 cf also the Salvation Army's study of
the situation in the London Borough of Croydon: Ev 139, paras
8-9 Back
64
Q 427 Back
65
Ev 95, para 2.1 (Anti-Slavery international) Back
66
Home Office Press Notice, 'Government ratifies European Convention
against human trafficking', 17 December 2008. See paragraph 79
below for an account of Operations Pentameter 1 and 2. Back
67
Q 50 Back
68
Qq 217 and 258 Back
69
Ev 153, para 1.5 Back
70
Q 157 Back
71
Ev 118, para 7 These figures are comparable with those given by
Kalayaan in relation to calendar year 2006: see Supplementary
Memorandum, Ev 122 Back
72
Ev 122 Back
73
Q 157 Back
74
Q 151 and Ev 118, para 8 Back
75
Qq 122-123 Back
76
Ev 96, para 3.4 and Q1 Back
77
Ev 97, para 3.16 Back
78
Missing Out: A Study of Child Trafficking in the North-West,
North-East and West Midlands, p7 Back
79
A Scoping Project on Child Trafficking in the UK, Aarti
Kapoor, June 2007 Back
80
Q 358 Back
81
Ev 106, para 15 Back
82
Q 325 Back
83
Paragraphs x-y Back
84
Q 257 Back
85
Qq 525-526 Back
86
Ev 153, para 1.6 (Poppy Project); Qq 113 and 115 and Ev 105, paras
6-8 (ECPAT); Ev 271 (Anti-Slavery International); Ev 250, para
6 (STOP THE TRAFFIK) ECPAT's damning conclusion was: "This
work is not being carried out by the UKHTC so [a National Rapporteur]
would not duplicate current arrangements": Ev 262, para 10. Back