Child Trafficking

Unicef estimates that about 1.2 million children are trafficked each year and have called this the 21st-century slave trade. Some commentators have pointed out that the numbers trafficked equal that of the number of slaves brought to America in the 18th and 19th century.

The UN says that apart from weapons and drugs, trade in human beings has developed into one of the most lucrative and growing areas of illegal trade.

CHILD-TRAFFICKING IN Scotland is set to rise dramatically as organised crime gangs turn from drugs to the more lucrative illegal movement of children into the UK.

Trafficked children are being sold into a life of sexual exploitation, domestic slavery, Fagin-style petty-theft gangs or working in cannabis factories, where they are held against their will, forced to work and subjected to cruel and inhumane treatment.

A leading expert in child-trafficking has warned that the scourge'' is spreading across the UK. Scotland is known to have a particular problem after increased security has made trafficking more difficult through London airports.

This is a depressing scourge at the beginning of a new century. It is not only increasing but expanding systematically across north-west Europe,'' Professor David Barrett from the University of Bedfordshire, an authority on child-trafficking, told the Sunday Herald.

Child-trafficking is incrementally spreading across the UK. The reason is basically market forces. With the demise of other illicit commodities' - for example the price of illegal drugs dropping and the penalties increasing - the money in child-trafficking becomes a better business proposition for organised crime.

Despite the UK government investing heavily in counter measures, there are very few convictions for child-trafficking in the UK. Also there aren't any figures, so no-one actually knows the scale of child-trafficking, although the children's charities do know that it is increasing.''

In 2007, the UK government announced that 330 child victims of trafficking had been identified over an 18-month period. Of these 183 went missing from social services care. Many experts believe that the numbers of trafficked children in the UK could now be in the thousands.

Adapted from an article in the Sunday Herald

The Child Slaves

Criminals turn from drugs to trafficking.
By Kate Smith

Feb 2008

NSPCC opens first UK advice line to help combat child trafficking.

Monday, 08 Oct 2007

The NSPCC today (8 October 2007) launches the first advice and information line to protect children trafficked to the UK for sexual exploitation, forced labour, drugs transport, benefit fraud, and other crimes.

The NSPCC Child Trafficking Advice and Information Line (CTAIL) on 0800 107 7057 will help people working with children, such as immigration officers, the police, social workers, teachers, and health workers, to better identify and protect child victims. It will also shed light on the scale of child trafficking in the UK.  Read more

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