Memorandum submitted by the Child Exploitation
and Online Protection Centre
The Child Exploitation and Online Protection
(CEOP) Centre is the UK's dedicated response to tackling the sexual
abuse and exploitation of children. It is part of the UK policing
community and as such applies the full powers of the law in tracking
and bringing to account offenders either within the UK or overseas.
It applies a combination of the latest policing techniques with
the power of technology to identify, locate and safeguard the
victims of abuse. But the CEOP Centre is very different in its
make up to traditional police forces, delivering as it does a
holistic approach that combines police officers with specialists
from children's charities, industry, government and the wider
child protection community with initiatives that look to empower
children—through its Thinkuknow programme, work with industry
to advise on safer by design strategies and specialist units to
better understand how to combat the sexual abuse and exploitation
of children. Find out more at ceop.gov.uk
Following the publication of A Scoping Project
on Child Trafficking in the UK in June 2007, CEOP established
a Child Trafficking Unit (CTU) to provide a child protection focused
and strategic support to work being undertaken by agencies combating
the problem of Human Trafficking, such as the UK Human Trafficking
(UKHTC) and police forces across the UK. In essence this means
that CEOP is largely working with two parallel and integrated
aims:
(i) building knowledge on child trafficking through
the gathering of strategic intelligence and research development,
as opposed to operational and tactical information; and
(ii) feeding into policy, guidance and awareness
raising on child trafficking to ensure a child protection approach
is adopted by those who work with the child victims and potential
child victims of this horrendous trade.
Furthermore, Jim Gamble, the CEO of CEOP, holds
the ACPO portfolio on Child Trafficking, as well as several other
child related portfolios including Child Protection, Combating
Child Abuse on the Internet, and Travelling Sex Offenders.
The outputs of CEOP's Child Trafficking Unit
(CTU) feed, via the UKHTC into the overarching response to Human
Trafficking—as laid out by the UK Action Plan on Human Trafficking.
The work of the CEOP's CTU ensures that work undertaken against
child trafficking evolves within a child protection context.
This submission to the Home Affair Committee
Inquiry on Human Trafficking is limited to child trafficking,
namely all trafficking of those persons under the age of 18 years,
into, within and out of the UK for all types of trafficking exploitation.
In order to ensure the submission's relevance to the queries is
ensured, it is structured to reflect the areas set out by the
Committee.
1. ESTIMATING
THE SCALE
AND TYPE
OF CHILD
TRAFFICKING
1.1 Currently there is no reliable estimate
of the scale of child trafficking in the UK. To further one of
its major objectives, CEOP has begun a step by step process to
of build knowledge on the scale and nature of child trafficking.
The covert and complex nature of human trafficking, added with
the relative lack of awareness in identifying this type child
abuse at front line level means that the only reliable method
of estimating the scale and nature of child trafficking is through
a properly planned iterative process undertaken in the medium
to long term context.
1.2 CEOP aims to deliver annual reports
on Child Trafficking, bringing together all intelligence and information
on child trafficking cases in the previous year. The first of
this series was published in June 2007 as a baseline scoping assessment.
A risk profile listing indicators in identifying children who
had been trafficked or at risk to trafficking was disseminated.
Data on cases between March 2005 and January 2007 were received
from 41 Police Forces, 20 Children's Services, 21 departments
within the BIA and eight NGOs. The CEOP Scoping Report (2007)
highlighted 330 children that fell into this risk profile. The
Scoping Report (2007) also found that a general lack of awareness
of front line workers in the statutory sector meant that most
cases of child trafficking were going unidentified. Given these
conclusions, it is estimated that the figure of 330 children falling
into the child trafficking risk profile is just the tip of the
iceberg.
1.3 The CEOP Scoping Report (2007) gave
a thorough analysis of the current cumulative case data on child
trafficking and presented a more detailed picture of the UK child
trafficking situation to date. The findings concluded that children
from over 44 different countries are being exploited or are suspected
of being exploited in the UK. Children are being brought into
the country through all types of entry ports and in a variety
of ways. The two most urgent headlines resulting from the research
were:
1.3.1 the significantly concerning trend
of young people identified as "at risk" who were arriving
through airports, claiming asylum, being accommodated and going
missing from care; and
1.3.2 the dearth of information about the
type of exploitation and abuse of children suspected to have been
trafficked. This was due to both the trend of young people going
missing as well as the lack of capacity that allows front line
workers to find out more information from those victims located.
For further information about the nature of child trafficking,
the Committee is respectfully referred to the Scoping Report itself.
1.4 As previously mentioned, the most reliable
method of building more accurate statistics and understanding
of the scale of child trafficking is through an iterative process
of regular case data collection whilst an ongoing communications
programme aimed at raising awareness of the problem and development
of procedures is put into place. Given this need CEOP has specifically
planned its outputs in delivering an annual report on Child Trafficking
in tandem with a UK wide programme of communications and awareness
raising.
1.5 Through the UKHTC remit as the central
repository on all human trafficking intelligence, CEOP has already
begun gathering child-related data to be used for a variety of
purposes, including CEOP's overall Strategic Threat Assessment
on Trafficking in Human Beings, as well as a bespoke report on
child trafficking itself.
2. THE DIFFICULTY
OF FINDING
THOSE WHO
HAVE BEEN
TRAFFICKED WHEN
THEY ARE
NORMALLY TOO
FRIGHTENED TO
COMPLAIN TO
THE AUTHORITIES;
AND THE
ROLE OF
NGOS IN
HELPING TO
IDENTIFY AND
ASSIST VICTIMS
2.2 Identifying child victims of trafficking
is the most crucial and urgent requirement in the overall response
to child trafficking. It is only when a victim is identified that
s/he can be appropriately treated, the perpetrators investigated
and trafficking activity per se uncovered. Without the consistent
identification of children as trafficked, exploited or at risk
of trafficking, it is almost impossible to build a response to
child trafficking in terms of developing the "4 Ps approach":
Protection, Prosecution, Policy and Prevention.
2.3 In order to identify victims of trafficking,
better understanding of trafficking in its various and dynamic
forms is needed. First and foremost trafficking and exploitation
of children must be seen as another form of child abuse and therefore
must inevitably be responded to within a child protection context.
The UK's child protection system has the infrastructure to provide
appropriate care for children and young people trafficked. Presently,
however, key workers are in need of greater support and clarity
as to how children victimised by trafficking are to be cared for.
The recently Guidance on Safeguarding Children who may have been
trafficking released in England and Wales and forthcoming in Scotland
significantly draws out a standard model for agencies to follow
in regard to child protection and safeguarding regarding trafficking.
2.4 Currently the identification of child
victims of trafficking is occurring most often in NGOs, children's
services and community groups. This is due to the caring environment
within which children are able to disclose information, or where
key workers are able to recognise symptoms of this abuse. The
expertise from social workers, both from the statutory and non
statutory sectors, is vital if better understanding is to be shared.
Currently CEOP has partnered with the NSPCC and ECPAT UK to establish
the NSPCC Child Trafficking Advice and Information Line (CTAIL).
This service is aimed at persons working with children who would
like to access support in identifying children—who may have
been trafficked—and to plan the appropriate aftercare and
response needed. CEOP will shortly be seconding a police officer
to CTAIL. It is recommended that information about the CTAIL service
is disseminated widely in the UK and furthermore, that more support
is invested into the service in order to ensure sustainability
and capacity to cover the whole of the UK over a longer period.
It is of utmost importance that this service is accessible to
all relevant professionals in both the statutory and non-governmental
sectors.
2.5 Notwithstanding the activities listed
in paragraph 2.9 below, information on the various ways in which
children are exploited through trafficking, as well as the known
profiles of these children, must be disseminated more widely and
regularly to front line workers who have access to children. Training,
guidance and communication campaigns need to target police, immigration
officers, social workers, teachers, doctors, nurses and such professionals.
2.6 As part of the work undertaken through
the ACPO portfolio on Child Trafficking, led by Jim Gamble, a
working group on Victim Identification and Risk Assessment is
looking at how children can be better identified and assessed.
Its findings will inform key guidance and training on child trafficking.
Furthermore, it is recommended that the National Referral Mechanism
for children identified as victims of trafficking is developed
within a child protection context.
2.7 CEOP will be developing a specialised
training programme for law enforcement on child trafficking. This
training will be developed to fit with and complement existing
training programmes on Human trafficking delivered by the UKHTC.
The curriculum will aim to increase understanding in victim identification,
risk assessment and investigations on child trafficking. Presently,
CEOP is undertaking a training needs analysis to inform the curriculum
and plans to deliver its first training course within this financial
year.
2.8 The CEOP Scoping Report (2007) concluded
that the lack of awareness about the various forms of child trafficking
and what it means precluded the efficient detection of abuse through
trafficking; even where a child clearly exhibited indicators of
being trafficked The key is in translating the conceptual understanding
of trafficking to operational scenarios where a child is physically
present. This means overcoming the stereotypical view of a victim
disclosing the abuse and physically appearing to have been assaulted,
which sometimes accompanies even basic understandings of child
trafficking. The factual reality of victims of child trafficking
is that they do not often disclose their abuse and exploitation.
Communication with victims of trafficking is significantly obstructed
by language barriers and cultural differences, as well as emotional
and psychological trauma. Carers and other professionals are often
unable to properly respond to victim's needs either through a
lack of access to specialised resources or advice, as well as
a lack of experience in working with such issues. It is recommended
that training and awareness raising programmes be developed for
all sectors that work with children, including education and health
services.
2.9 At the central Government level, there
has been a positive and rapid development of awareness and resulting
policy in regard to human trafficking. This is evidenced by the
UK Action Plan on Human Trafficking, the signing and imminent
ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against
the Human Trafficking, the establishment of the UK Human Trafficking
Centre, the DCSF Guidance on Safeguarding Children who may have
been Trafficked, the publication of the DCSF's Care Matters—Delivery
Implementation Plan, and the numerous ongoing activities and groups
aiming to develop guidance, direction and policy in this complex
area. The UKBA are also developing a Code of Practice on Keeping
Children Safe. In relation to the better protection of children
from exploitation, CEOP both in its broader remit to support the
Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and the UKHTC in its Human
Trafficking work, as well as in its managing of the ACPO Portfolio
on Child Trafficking, supports and provides the child specific
expertise in the human trafficking agenda. This ensures that a
child protection approach, distinct and specific for trafficking
of children, is not lost. Generally, it is concluded that central
Government levels of awareness of the issue of human trafficking
are high and this is directly related to the rapid advancement
in policy.
3. THE TREATMENT
OF THOSE
WHO HAVE
BEEN TRAFFICKED
BUT HAVE
NO LEGAL
RIGHT TO
REMAIN IN
THE UK, INCLUDING
THE REQUIREMENTS
IMPOSED BY
THE COUNCIL
OF EUROPE
CONVENTION ON
COMBATING HUMAN
TRAFFICKING
3.1 Victim care through a rights-based,
child protection approach is of paramount importance. International
standards on trafficking victims rights,[191]
especially where they are children, outline that state parties
have an obligation, and victims have the right, to efficient identification
and appropriate treatment. As explained above, the efficient identification
and appropriate treatment of victims is integral to the necessary
law enforcement response. Current understanding highlights that
if victims do not feel secure and confident, then they will not
disclose their experiences and will not be able to act as witnesses.
Appropriate victim care is essential if traffickers are to be
investigated, charged and successfully prosecuted through the
criminal justice system.
3.2 Apart from the already difficult barriers
in communicating with and assessing child victims of trafficking,
there is a lack of consistency and clear child protection processes
for those children most vulnerable to trafficking and those who
have already been victimised. This is due to the fact that most
child victims of trafficking are subject to immigration control.
According to legislation, this should not be a barrier to accessing
children's services; however in practice this means that funding
to support these groups of children is sourced differently than
for UK national children, especially where these children do not
have permanent or legal status in this country. This often results
in a variant approach to abused children depending on whether
they have a clear immigration status in this country or not. In
reference to this, a number of recommendations are presented.
3.3 The fact that section 11 of the Children's
Act 2004 applies equally to all children, independent of their
immigration status is undermined by the immigration and asylum
system. We recommend strongly that the UK Border Agency (UKBA)
be obliged under the Children's Act 2004, in particular with regard
to section 11, to safeguard and promote children's welfare as
an overriding policy. Police Forces are obliged under section
11 of the Children's Act, in essence to promote the welfare of
children. This obligation does not hinder Police Forces in their
duty to protect the public and enforce criminal law. It is submitted
that the same section 11 obligation for UKBA need not conflict
with their broader duties of UKBA protecting borders and enforcing
immigration law.
3.4 Given that child trafficking has not
been largely recognised as a form of child abuse, in those cases
where it is identified there are further obstacles in the child
protection system to prevent an appropriate response to the care
needs of these children; this is due to their immigration status
and it is clear that reasonable standards in care are not being
reached. Whilst a multitude of agencies may be working around
a given child, referring and sharing information with each other,
it is clear that there is no single agency that can fully act
in the child's best interests without deferring to another overriding
agenda. In order for a child or young person to be appropriately
cared for, as they has a right to, it is recommended that a system
of independent advocates or guardianship be examined. The role
would require an entity whose only function would be to assess
the best interests of the child and to advocate on behalf of the
child vis-a"-vis other agencies.
3.5 To date there have been very few significant
criminal investigations and prosecutions for human trafficking,
where this has involved a child or young person as a victim. This
is largely due to the need for better awareness and integration
of child trafficking within police force agendas. It is submitted
that CEOP, through the work undertaken under the ACPO portfolios
on both Child Trafficking and Child Abuse, will look to raise
the profile of child trafficking activity as a form of child abuse
amongst police forces.
3.6 A new holistic approach in relation
to victim care for children with a variety of provisions from
medical, psychiatric and social care is needed. One of the most
difficult areas is the provision of appropriate accommodation.
We recommend strongly that more funding be made available for
the allocation of safer accommodation for children victimised
by trafficking, as well as those identified as at risk of trafficking
or exploitation. It is argued that if this were to be provided,
this would also reduce the alarming trend of children going missing
from care. The care should be provided in collaboration at local
level by multi agency teams, including police, the UKBA, legal
representation as well as social and health care.
3.7 For many victims, age disputes are common,
which obstruct their access to the services they have a right
to within the child protection system. It is recommended that
more consistent and reliable methods of age assessment be developed
and implemented.
3.8 It is reiterated that the Unaccompanied
Asylum Seeking Children's Process is fully and clearly integrated
with the execution of the Council of Europe Convention on Action
Against Trafficking.[192]
CEOP support the Home Office's stated aims of a fully integrated
system that will improve the asylum and care systems for vulnerable
and at risk minors in the UK. Further development of this system
should be undertaken through a consultative process.
4. CO-OPERATION
WITHIN THE
EU (INCLUDING EUROPOL);
AND CONTROL
OF THE
EU'S EXTERNAL
FRONTIERS
4.1 The European Union, within its borders,
has source, transit and destination areas for child trafficking.
These are within national and across international borders—both
within and outside of the EU. Therefore, as global trends dictate,
child trafficking is national, regional and international in relation
to the UK. Economic and social trends within the EU and in other
regions of the world, where there are links with the EU, has an
impact in some form or another on EU migratory trends. Child trafficking
is one form of migration and the trends for child trafficking
often mirror broader migratory trends. This highlights one overarching
reason why co-operation within the EU is of such importance and
relevance in responding to the issue of child trafficking.
4.2 The relative ease of travel within the Schengen
area, the rights of EU nationals to travel freely within the EU,
the developing EU economy and economic regionalisation progress
are increasingly being abused by child exploiters and traffickers.
The continued changing of source, destination areas and the routes
between them for child trafficking in the EU over the previous
decade, coincide with changing socio-economic events and conditions.
The fluidity of child trafficking trends, characterised by the
displacement effect, is difficult to eradicate completely without
a joined up approach. Trafficking networks, both formal and informal,
change tack according to the least risk and the most profit. For
example, the patterns of trafficking of Roma children seem to
have moved destination from cities such as Vienna and Amsterdam
to London and Madrid over the past few years. Source regions change
according to the availability of both vulnerable children and
access to them by agents. Routes change according to the easiest
or cheapest airlines, through ports where there is the least amount
of security. Where action is taken, often the problem is deflected,
only to be found having "popped up" in another place.
Traffickers are able to exploit less secure border points to enter
and move around within the EU as various law enforcement take
action in different areas. These issues all point to the importance
of co-operation within the EU.
4.3 Greater security and measures to safeguard
children at all exterior and interior borders of the EU can be
a relatively cost effective method of intervening against trafficking
when compared to the cost of criminal investigations undertaken
after the abuse has taken place. Under the ACPO portfolio on Child
Trafficking, led by Jim Gamble, a working group is examining the
Paladin[193]
Model for all entry ports in the UK. It is highly recommended
that this model is used to assemble specialist teams at all border
points. It is argued that the existence of similar and harmonised
teams aiming to safeguard children at all entry ports and border
points would have a direct impact on combating the overall trend
of child trafficking in the EU.
4.4 The Council of Europe Convention on
Action against Trafficking of Human Beings draws together the
most far reaching set of victims' rights thus far in international
trafficking legislation. These standards act as a framework measure
for establishing minimum standards for member states to develop
responses within respective jurisdictions. It calls for child
victims of trafficking to be treated within a child protection
context. It is submitted that the work being undertaken by CEOP,
in collaboration with the UKHTC and SOCA will prove invaluable
for the implementation process.
5. RELATIONS
WITH TRANSIT
AND SOURCE
COUNTRIES, AND
THE ROLE
OF INTERPOL
AND THE
UN OFFICE ON
DRUGS AND
CRIME
5.1 As understanding of transit and source
countries for child trafficking improves, cross-border relationships
with the UK continue to develop. CEOP is currently building relationships
with law enforcement, judicial sectors, civil society and international
organisations in South Asia, South East Asia, South East Europe
and Southern Africa. These partnerships are being developed in
the broader context of child protection and child abuse. CEOP
will examine the possibility of working with these agencies specifically
in the area of child trafficking.
5.2 Specifically, it is understood that
children become vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation in
source regions, whether in the UK or abroad, where the child protection
system fails them. Bearing this in mind, CEOP has implemented
scoping visits to the regions mentioned above, studying levels
of child protection and abuse within national and regional boundaries.
These visits have resulted in follow up capacity building projects
with law enforcement, judicial sectors and civil society organisations.
In relation to child trafficking in particular, CEOP plans to
gain a better understanding of the vulnerabilities of at risk
children in source regions. This information can be used both
for the criminal justice and victim care approaches against child
trafficking.
5.3 In general, having explored specific
vulnerabilities of at risk groups of children in source regions,
and comparing this to aid and development work being undertaken
by Government, NGOs and Inter Government agencies, the issue of
child protection is often not as highly prioritised as other areas
of international development. It is highly recommended that the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International
Development encourage the development of child protection systems,
through appropriate education and health systems, in developing
countries. The development of child protection, education and
health in developing countries secures a better future for those
economies, thereby reducing relative poverty, as well as reducing
over vulnerability of children and young people to exploitation
and trafficking.
5.4 From a law enforcement perspective,
appropriate links are currently being developed through Interpol
and Europol.
6. EFFECTIVENESS
OF THE
CO-ORDINATION
BETWEEN PUBLIC
AUTHORITIES IN
THE UK (HOME
OFFICE, FCO, POLICE
FORCES, SERIOUS
ORGANISED CRIME
AGENCY, BORDER
AND IMMIGRATION
AGENCY, SOCIAL
SERVICES)
6.1 The coordination amongst public authorities
can be viewed from at least two perspectives, victim care and
the criminal justice process. Within these two overlapping arenas
there are two further levels at work; operational and strategic.
The efficient and timely coordination of agencies for the purpose
of delivering appropriate victim centred care is necessary at
both strategic and operational levels. The process for such work
must be decided and organised at the strategic level. In the same
manner, there is the need to coordinate at the operational level
to ensure a criminal justice process response is considered in
each case. This, in turn, needs to be supported by policy, advice
and guidance, and intelligence to support this, at a strategic
level for law enforcement agencies. It is pertinent to note that
each of these areas overlap with each of the other areas.
Victim care
6.2 In general, public authorities, especially
at the front line level, lack the awareness and capacity to appropriately
respond to the problem of child trafficking. The child protection
system needs to recognise child trafficking as another form of
child abuse, and incorporate appropriate responses to it within
the child protection activity.
6.3 There are pockets of good practice around
the UK, which act as good models and in providing necessary expertise
and lessons learned for other areas. Many LSCBs and police forces
are developing guidance and protocols in the area of child trafficking;
however, this needs to be complemented by expertise and widespread
training. The main barrier for local authorities is lack of support—mainly
financial—in providing care needs for children that are
subject to immigration control.
6.4 The recently released DCSF guidance
on Safeguarding Children who may be Trafficked has provided a
national standard by which local ones may be measured. The promotion
of this guidance should be spearheaded in all relevant sectors.
The Council of Europe Convention is due to be ratified by the
end of the year. This requires the setting up of a National Referral
Mechanism for the identification of victims of trafficking. It
is essential that the process for the identification of victims
is developed together with a strengthening of the child protection
response.
Criminal Justice Response
6.5 At the front line level, the two main
obstacles in investigating child trafficking cases are:
6.5.1 the lack of clarity about whose remit
such cases fall under within a police force, and
6.5.2 the lack of priority these types of
crime investigations command in relation to policing priorities
and resulting performance indicators. The main reasons for this
may be a lack of awareness and intelligence about the crime as
a threat or it may be seen as a low priority when faced with a
multitude of different problems. However, this causes a self perpetuating
cycle where the lack of investigations is caused by the lack of
awareness and clarity and the lack of awareness and clarity is
a consequence of the lack of investigations. These issues are
being targeted by CEOP's work on producing information, education
and communications programmes for law enforcement.
6.6 It would also be beneficial for other
bodies in the criminal justice process, such as the Crown Prosecution
Service (CPS), to promote training and awareness on trafficking
issues and to actively pursue the use of trafficking offences
to prosecute traffickers. There have been cases where children
who have allegedly been trafficked into enforced criminality have
been prosecuted as criminals. The CPS has taken action in developing
guidance on this to all prosecutors to assess such cases in regard
to the public interest. In general, there is a need to use the
full force of UK legislation in such cases of trafficking. Trafficking
is a complex crime, which can be investigated and charged under
a broad range of criminal and immigration offences in the UK.
It is recommended that this be utilized to its full potential.
6.7 To support the efforts of all agencies
involved in tackling this trade in human beings, such as the Home
Office, SOCA and UKHTC, CEOP will be producing an Annual Report
on Child Trafficking in the next year. This will further attempt
to assess the scale and nature of the problem. Although this is
a strategic exercise, it is being implemented in order to have
significant impact at the operational level. The data collation
phase will coincide with an intense period of awareness raising
amongst police forces and other source agencies such as the UKBA
and children's services within local authorities as described
above. Furthermore, this annual exercise will encourage the collection
of all child trafficking intelligence to be held by the national
repository at the UKHTC and the annual analysis of the data by
CEOP. At the strategic level the establishment of the UK Human
Trafficking Centre, supported by, the setting up of the Child
Trafficking Unit within CEOP highlights a significant improvement
of will and capacity to lead the way in the law enforcement response
to human trafficking.
The UK has only recently recognised its status
as a destination country in which children are being exploited
through trafficking.. The responsibility of destination countries
where the exploitation takes place cannot be underestimated..
Given the relative recent awareness of the issue and the urgency
of the problem, it is concluded that progress has overall been
good. This submission has aimed to highlight those areas both
where improvements can be made and those areas where anti-trafficking
work in relation to children has advanced well.
9 April 2008
191 Namely, Recommended Principles and Guidelines on
Human Rights and Human Trafficking (UN Trafficking Principles
and Guidelines) (2002), Report pf the High Commissioner for Human
Rights to the Economic and Social Council (2002) UN Doc/2002/68/Add.1.
Also see United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Guidelines for
the Protection of Child Victims of Trafficking. Back
192
http://www.coe.int/t/dg2/trafficking/campaign/Docs/Convntn/default_en.asp Back
193
Paladin is a multi-agency team (police, BIA and Children's Services),
under the Metropolitan Police, whose remit is to safeguard children
at London ports. Back
| 
