Child Trafficking: The UK Picture

Overview

Human Trafficking is defined as:

‘The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power, or a position of vulnerability, or the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal or organs’.

(source: Article 3, Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights)

Human Trafficking is a growing problem, with the UK recognised as a significant transit and destination country for trafficked women and young people. They are trafficked for a variety of reasons, primarily sexual exploitation, forced labour and cannabis cultivation.

The full scale of the problem is unknown but the NRM (national referral mechanism) reported 1481 potential cases of human trafficking in the UK between 1st April 2010 and 31st March 2011 (source: NRM Statistical Data April 2009 to March 2011 Report, www.soca.gov.uk).

The International Organisation for Migration reported that 62% of the victims they assisted in 2011 were under 18 (source: IOM 2011 Case Data on Human Trafficking: Global Figures and Trends).

Child Trafficking

In October 2011 CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) published a report entitled ‘Child Trafficking Update’ that gave data on reported cases of child trafficking between 1^st January 2011 and 15^th September 2011.

The figures from the report help highlight the problem within the UK, especially when we remember that this does not represent the full extent of the problem but only reports on those victims that were identified by agencies such as CEOP and NSPCC CTAIL.

The report shows that in just under nine months 202 children were identified as being trafficked into or within the UK.

The table below shows the source region and gender for these 202 children:

 

202 Children	67 from Africa	48 African girls
		19 African boys
	63 from Asia	20 Asian girls
		43 Asian boys
	50 from Eastern Europe	32 Eastern European girls
		18 Eastern European boys
	22 from other/unknown	17 other/unknown girls
		5 other/unknown boys

Child victims of human trafficking are those victims that were under 18 when they were trafficked and exploited. For some victims their age is unknown as they do not know their own age and the Competent Authority is unable to establish an exact age.

The following table shows the ages of the 202 children by geographical region.

Age	Africa	Asia	Eastern Europe	Other/Unknown	Total
Under 5	2	0	6	0	8
5-7	3	0	4	2	9
8-10	9	0	8	1	18
11-13	7	4	7	0	18
14-16	28	45	20	13	106
17	18	14	5	5	42

The exploitation of the trafficked children can be broken down into 6 main areas, however many victims experience multiple types of exploitation, for example a child exploited for benefit fraud may also be forced into criminality. The 6 main types of child exploitation are:

1. Benefit Fraud – children are trafficked into the UK for the purposes of claiming benefits. A child is often moved between multiple addresses and benefits are claimed under multiple fake identities. 

2. Cannabis Cultivation – young people are forced to work as ‘gardeners’ in ‘cannabis farms’. These farms are often in converted residential houses. 

3.Criminal Exploitation – children are trafficked into the UK and then forced into criminal activities such as pick-pocketing and shop-lifting in order to create an income for their exploiter. 

4. Domestic Servitude – this is an often very hidden form of child exploitation, happening behind closed doors with victims being kept out of sight. 

5. Labour Exploitation – children are trafficked for the purposes of forced labour. They are made to work in agriculture, hospitality, construction and nail bars. 

6. Sexual Exploitation – children trafficked into and within the UK are forced into sexual exploitation in order to gain an income for their exploiters. They are often forced to work under the threat of a debt-bondage and physical violence.

The following table shows the primary exploitation type for the 202 children and the split by gender and region for each type of exploitation:

  

Exploitation Type	Number of Children	Gender		Region
		Male	Female	Africa	Asia	E Europe	Other
Benefit Fraud	23	56.5%	43.5%	21.7%		78.3%
Cannabis Cultivation	21	85.7%	14.3%		100%
Criminal Exploitation	15	28.6%	71.4%	7.1%		92.9%
Domestic Servitude	23	45.5%	54.5%	68.2%	22.7%		9.1%
Labour Exploitation	56	55.8%	44.2%	10%	38%	52%
Sexual Exploitation	53		100%	56.8%	17%	20.5%	4.5%

 

These figures make stark reading. We need to understand the UK picture so that we can respond appropriately. The Treehouse Project is one such response.

The Treehouse Project is an after-care service in the UK for survivors of Human Trafficking. The project focuses on the rehabilitation of children and young people who have been the victims of trafficking. The project aims to provide therapeutic aftercare through counselling, befriending, education and accommodation.

For further reading, the full CEOP report can be found at http://www.ceop.police.uk/Documents/ceopdocs/child_trafficking_update_2011.pdf