- Child-trafficking into Britain is increasing rapidly,
with thousands of young children being brought into the country and exploited
as prostitutes or drug mules, according to a report by the United Nations
Children's Fund.
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- A forthcoming Unicef report, Stop the Traffic, warns
that children are being transported from an increasing number of countries
by traffickers who are using a variety of methods to avoid detection.
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- The organisation fears that the children, mainly from
West Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia, face a life of exploitation and abuse
at the hands of their captors, many of whom escape unpunished because of
a loophole in anti-trafficking laws.
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- Children as young as seven have been sold by their families,
taken away from their homes and subjected to months of severe sexual and
physical abuse from traffickers who often masquerade as their protectors.
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- The report also cites examples of 12 and 13-year-olds
used to smuggle heroin into the country and of underage children forced
into prostitution with threats of violence and voodoo.
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- In other cases uncovered by Unicef, several West African
girls have been lured to Britain with the promise of a good education only
to be forced into a life of domestic exploitation. Unable to speak the
language, they found themselves treated as little more than servants: cleaning
houses and doing domestic chores without pay for wealthy families.
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- Trafficked children are also forced to work in sweatshops
and restaurants or as beggars and pickpockets in an organised crime racket.
The children, who are intimidated by threats of violence, rape and extortion,
are often too frightened to admit to being trafficked.
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- Although it is illegal to traffic people into the UK
for commercial sexual exploitation, children trafficked for other reasons
remain unprotected.
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- The report, to be published on July 30 and based on interviews
with the social services, the police, Immigration Control and charities,
calls on the Government to close this loophole and fund safe-house accommodation
for trafficking victims.
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- It also calls for the establishment of proper monitoring
procedures and the introduction of a six-month "reflection period"
to assess the needs of each child on entry to the UK.
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- The report found that there were more than 250 known
cases of child trafficking into Britain over the past five years but warns
that a lack of monitoring suggests that the real figures are likely to
be much higher. Police are unable to collate comprehensive statistics because
trafficking is not a criminal offence.
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- Unicef investigations, however, uncovered a number of
shocking incidences of abuse. One London-based child trading network involved
a woman who had acquired 12 children so that she could claim benefits for
them.
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- The case of "Adam", the Nigerian boy whose
torso was found floating in the Thames in 2001, is also cited by the report
as an instance of child trafficking for the purpose of ritual killing.
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- Other case studies outlined by the report include "Natasha",
who fled from an abusive father in Romania and was sold into the sex trade.
After being brought to the UK, she was repeatedly sexually exploited and
beaten by her trafficker for six months before escaping.
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- Trafficking operations are gathering children from an
increasing range of countries. Although there are no precise statistics,
the report found that most children are brought from African nations, including
Sierra Leone and Nigeria, but a growing number are also being shipped in
from Eastern European countries, the report says.
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- The problem is affecting cities all over the UK, whose
authorities have previously been unaware of the issue. In Newcastle and
Nottingham, evidence of child trafficking has only started to emerge in
recent months.
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- The problem is further compounded by the increasingly
acceptable cultural practice of parents in developing countries sending
their children abroad to be given education or work. Many parents send
young children to Britain believing that they will receive a better education
here: often, however, the truth is far more desperate.
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- Victoria Climbie, the eight-year-old girl born on the
Ivory Coast and sent by her parents to live with Marie-Therese Kouao, her
great aunt, in London in 1998, is one such case.
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- Victoria died of severe abuse in 2000: a police inquiry
revealed that Kouao had claimed benefits for Victoria in France and Britain
before subjecting her to horrific abuse. A year later Kouao and her boyfriend,
Clinton Manning, received life sentences for Victoria's murder.
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- The Laming Report into her death, which called for "proper,
coherent protection" for vulnerable children, prompted the appointment
of a Children's Minister and the publication of a Green Paper on children
at risk.
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- The Unicef report claims that between 8,000 and 10,000
children in the UK are privately fostered and that many of these could
be abused or exploited without anyone knowing that they are in the country.
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- David Bull, the executive director of Unicef UK, said:
"It is a serious abuse of child rights and is the fastest-growing
business of organised crime.
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- "Until recently, trafficking wasn't even illegal
and is still only a crime if carried out for sexual exploitation. The Government
must criminalise trafficking for all purposes and should introduce central
funding for specialist care and protection for the victims."
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- The report is to be published this week as part of Unicef's
End Child Exploitation campaign.
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- © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2003.
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