When ECPAT UK and Save The Children launched a report into child trafficking in the north of England in the summer of 2007, we were horrified by the numbers of missing children suspected to have been trafficked. Of the 80 children identified in the small-scale report, almost 60% had gone missing without a trace. We called on the government for a national inquiry into missing children and recommended a system of guardianship for trafficked children. The official response from the government was a resounding "no".
On Radio 4's Women's Hour the children's minister, Beverley Hughes, dismissed the idea of a national inquiry as unnecessary. Many other local authorities have subsequently told us about missing children who, coincidentally, fit the profile of trafficked children. The numbers continue to grow. Parliamentary questions have led to other ministers saying the same thing.
The government has only ever published two reports on child trafficking; both conducted by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre. Both reports, one of which was launched last month (pdf), have identified the high number of children going missing. The risk profile for trafficked children is clear; they will end up in a situation of harm. This much is well known to police and to central government. There have been a further two reports on missing children commissioned by the Home Office and conducted in part by the UK Borders Agency that have never been made public. One, leaked to the Guardian, shows the damning evidence that the government knows much more about the risk to these children than they have been prepared to admit in public events or in parliament. Gordon Brown today pledged to investigate – but it is hard to imagine anything more sinister than a government knowing about this extraordinary risk of harm and yet failing to supply local authorities and support agencies with the resources or information to provide immediate high-level safety to these children upon identification.
Thankfully, some new work has been initiated in pilot projects around Heathrow and Gatwick, but so much more must be done to protect these innocent children, who are not illegal immigrants, but victims of modern-day slavery. ECPAT UK continues to call on the government for a system of guardianship for children who may be trafficked and nationally agreed standards of safe accommodation for children. To be effective there must be a UK-wide approach, so that traffickers don't just cherry pick their way around UK ports of entry.
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