Child Trafficking, the Problem and how we can ‘COMBAT’ it

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Child Trafficking, the Problem and how we can
COMBAT it

• in Coventry, Warwickshire and Solihull
• Sue Gwyer - CSWP COMBAT
• Engagement Specialist

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Human Trafficking - the context

• Trafficking in persons shall mean the
  recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring
  or receipt of persons, by means of threat or use
  of force or other forms of coercion, of
  abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse
  of power of a position of vulnerability or of the
  giving or receiving of payments or benefits to
  achieve the consent of a person having the
  control of 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 of organs.
• Protocol to the 2000 UN Convention
• Against Transnational Organised Crime Palermo
  Protocol

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The Problem

• UNGIFT United Nations Global Initiative to Fight
  Trafficking estimates that there are 2.5 million
  people in forced labour (including sexual
  exploitation) at any given time worldwide as a
  direct result of trafficking
• 18.8 of this number are estimated to be in
  industrialised countries and countries in
  transition
• In emerging democracies and post-conflict states
  across Europe, the convergence of corruption of
  officialdom and emergence of organised crime
  alongside the implementation of the Schengen
  agreement has provided fertile ground for the
  growth in human trafficking
• Trafficking modern day slavery occurs both
  within and across borders and affects economies,
  political stability, law enforcement and public
  health

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The Trafficking of ChildrenUNGIFT United
Nations Global Initiative to Fight Human
Trafficking

• An estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked
  each year worldwide
• 95 of victims experience physical or sexual
  violence
• 43 of victims are used for forced commercial
  sexual exploitation
• 98 of this number are women and children
• 32 are used for forced economic exploitation
• 56 of this number are women and children

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Child Trafficking in the UK

• CEOP recorded 325 children trafficked into the UK
  between March 07 and Feb 08 of these approx.
  180 went missing from Local Authority care
• In 2008-09 Operation Glover, directed against
  the internal trafficking of teenage girls for
  sexual exploitation, rescued 33 trafficking
  victims

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Operation Golf
In 2010 Operation Golf picked up 103 Roma
children from 13 addresses in East London. 52
adults were arrested. This trafficking ring was
operating from one town in Romania. Between
01.04.09 and 31.03.11 the UKHTC received 1481
referrals 390 of which were minors But why are
people trafficked? For what purpose?
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In the UK children are trafficked forECPAT
End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the
Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes

• Sexual exploitation
• Domestic servitude
• Forced labour (including restaurant and catering
  work)
• Cultivation of cannabis
• Drug trafficking
• Begging Petty theft
• Blood rituals
• Benefit fraud
• Selling counterfeit goods such as DVDs
• Illegal adoption / private fostering

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In the UK ECPAT

• There is also evidence that children are brought
  to and removed from the UK for forced marriage
• There is no current evidence that children are
  being trafficked into the UK for organ removal
  although there are documented cases elsewhere in
  the world including both East and West Europe
• But why is trafficking possible? What do you
  think makes some people more vulnerable to
  trafficking both from abroad and here in the UK?

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• Poverty the root cause of vulnerability to
  exploitation
• Lack of education attendance at school has been
  a key means of protecting children from all forms
  of exploitation
• Discrimination this can be based on gender and
  ethnicity
• Cultural attitudes traditional cultural
  attitudes can mean that some children are more
  vulnerable to trafficking than others
• Grooming children are sometimes trafficked out
  of their country of origin after having been
  groomed for purposes of sexual exploitation
• Dysfunctional families children may choose to
  leave home as a result of domestic abuse and
  neglect or they may be forced to leave home for a
  number of reasons
• Political conflict and economic transition
  often lead to movements of large numbers of
  people and the erosion of economic and social
  protection mechanisms
• Natural disasters Earthquakes, Tsunamis etc
  displacement leads to separated children and
  vulnerable adults
• Inadequate local laws and regulations
  trafficking involves many different events and
  processes and legislation in some countries has
  been slow to keep pace. Even where there is
  appropriate legislation enforcement is often
  hampered by lack of prioritisation, corruption
  and ignorance of the law

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A barbaric trade in human misery right on
our doorsteps Grahame Maxwell - UKHTC

• "One of the first victims we helped in the
  UK was a 15 year-old Lithuanian girl who found
  herself in Sheffield where she managed to escape
  her trafficker and turned up at a police station.
• Her case shows how unsuspecting young
  victims are lured from their homes into a
  nightmare world of brutality and rape. She was
  phoned up by someone and asked if she would like
  to sell ice cream for the summer in London and
  was told she would earn about 300.
• The traffickers signed a consent form and
  her parents, believing it was a good opportunity,
  approved the trip.
• She was flown to Gatwick and sold in a
  coffee shop from one trafficker to another for
  3,000.
• Her passport was taken off her and sold for
  4,000. Later the same night, she was taken to a
  flat brutalised and raped, and from that moment
  on she was forced to act as a prostitute.
• The girl was sold six times in six different
  cities in the UK before finally escaping and
  helping the police catch her traffickers.

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A young Chinese woman, forced into domestic
servitude in a UK takeaway restaurant, was
confined to live in this outhouse
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This was her bed the post mortem on her body
indicated that she had died of hypothermia.
There was evidence of severe physical abuse on
her body
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Domestic Servitude(S.71 Coroners Justice
Act 2009)

• Holding another person in slavery or servitude or
  requiring another person to perform forced or
  compulsory labour.
• The circumstances must be such that the defendant
  knows or ought to know that the person is being
  so held, or required to perform such labour.
• The offence applies to legal persons e.g.
  Companies as it applies to natural persons.

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The Traffickers...

• 52 of traffickers are men, 42 are women and 6
  work in joint enterprise
• In 54 of cases recruiters are strangers to
  victims whilst 46 of victims know their
  recruiters
• The global annual profit made from the
  exploitation of all trafficked forced labour is
  conservatively estimated to be US31.6 Billion
  UNGIFT
• This illicit commercialisation of humanity is the
  fastest growing global crime and is today one of
  the largest criminal industries in the world
  second only to the trade in arms

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The 21st Century Slave Trade

• Human trafficking is a crime that demeans the
  value of human life and is a form of modern day
  slavery
• UK Action Plan on Human Trafficking - CHP
  2
• There are more slaves in the world today than
  were seized from Africa in the four centuries of
  the trans-Atlantic slave trade
• Free the Slaves Kevin Bales
• The trafficking of women and children is an
  egregious violation of human rights
• Anti-Slavery International
• Anyone can report suspected trafficking as a
  public service professional it is your duty
• Geoff Feavyour Chief Constable -
  Leicestershire Police

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How do we COMBATHuman Trafficking?

• Countries of origin, transit and destination
  share a mutual interest and responsibility in
  combating human trafficking - we must work across
  borders
• Human trafficking has a destabilising effect on
  democratic institutions, the rule of law and
  respect for human rights BUT
• Liberation is not just about knocking down doors
  and dragging people to freedom. Permanent
  freedom requires survivors to own their freedom
  and to change the systems that support slavery
  trafficking-monitor.blogspot.com
• All agencies agree that initiatives designed to
  combat human trafficking have to concentrate on
  the three Ps Prevention, Protection and
  Prosecution

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Prevention

• In the year 2000 the United Nations adopted the
  Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish
  Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and
  Children
• The Palermo Protocol entered into force on 25th
  December 2003 and had been signed and ratified by
  117 countries worldwide, including the UK, by
  June 2010
• CET 197 The Council of Europe Convention on
  Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings
  Warsaw 2005 entered into force on 1st February
  2008 and had been signed and ratified by 34
  European countries, including the UK, by July
  2010. It came into force in the UK on 1st April
  2009
• The UK Government directed SOCA Serious and
  Organised Crime Agency to take governance of the
  UKs anti-trafficking strategy
• In October 2006 SOCA launched the UKHTC United
  Kingdom Human Trafficking Centre as a
  multi-agency decision making body with
  responsibility for enforcing the UK Action plan
  on Tackling Human Trafficking
• The UK Action Plan tasks the public, private and
  voluntary sectors to work together in a
  co-ordinated and directed manner to combat the
  trafficking of human beings

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Prevention gt Protection

• Much work has been done over the last decade,
  since Palermo, to get legislation in place
  worldwide to back the fight against human
  trafficking
• It is now key that all agencies involved in the
  safeguarding of children and young people adopt
  best practice regards dealing with trafficking
  situations to ensure compliance with both the UN
  UK Action Plan
• Both safeguarding non-safeguarding
  professionals, who may come across victims of
  trafficking in their everyday working lives are
  directed to Working Together to Safeguard
  Children and more specifically the addendum
  publication Safeguarding Children Who May Have
  Been Trafficked
• Professionals working in the childrens
  workforce should familiarise themselves with the
  LSCBs Trafficked Children Toolkit now accepted
  by the UKHTC as the most appropriate guidance and
  assessment matrix for identifying victims of
  human trafficking - (www.londonscb.gov.uk)

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Protection gt Prosecution

• The UKHTC is the nominated Competent Authority
  (along with the UKBA). They have responsibility
  for making decisions as to whether a referred
  person is a victim of trafficking
• Any First Responder that wishes to refer a
  potential victim of human trafficking to the
  National Referral Mechanism (NRM) is required to
  fill out a standard referral form
• First Responders are the only people entitled to
  fill out this form and currently they are
  Police, UK Border Agency (UKBA), Serious
  Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), Local Authorities
  / Social Services, Gangmasters Licensing
  Authority (GLA) plus a range of NGOs and
  charities working with victims of trafficking
• The Competent Authority assesses whether there is
  reasonable or conclusive grounds to decide if
  a referred person is indeed a victim of
  trafficking.
• Victims are given a 45 day reflection period
  (extendable) to decide whether they wish to
  pursue prosecution and / or be repatriated

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Prosecution

• In 2006 there were just 5,808 prosecutions and
  3,160 convictions throughout the world for human
  trafficking
• Put into perspective, this means that for every
  800 people trafficked just one person was
  convicted in 2006
• In the UK between 2006 and 2010 109 people were
  sentenced for trafficking offences receiving an
  average custodial sentence of 4yrs 2mths
• In the same period 254,980 people were sentenced
  for drugs offences receiving an average custodial
  sentence of 2yrs 8mths
• This is organised crime on a global scale and if
  we are to tackle it we need to be equally well
  organised in our strategies and responses to this
  egregious violation of human rights
• There are no black and white answers to tackling
  trafficking we need to look at a multi-agency
  3P approach differentiated according to the needs
  of each individual situation

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The Human Trafficking Venn
Prevention

• Education tailored packages for professionals
  and non - professionals
• Cross border cooperation countries of origin,
  transit destination
• Campaigning ASI, Stop the Traffik, ECPAT, MTV
  Exit, Blue Blindfold, ATA, Unchosen, Unseen,
  CROP, Just Whistle
• Social Cohesion involve communities
• Reduce demand

Protection
Prosecution
Multi-Agency

• Enact Palermo / simplify laws
• Collaborate with law enforcement agencies Police
  / UKBA / IA
• Confiscation Orders / tougher sentencing
• Share intelligence UKHTC / CEOP / Crimestoppers
• Use contacts and intelligence in custodial estate
  work with perpetrators?
• Collaborate with use
• SOCA UNODC

• Improve victim identification
• Support victim service development provision
• Enshrine rights-based approach in policies
  programme planning
• Engage public, private and voluntary sectors
• DO NOT RE-VICTIMISE
• Liaise over necessary use of CP procedures