Sunday, June 17, 2007

Can this be true?

I found this article, excerpted below, in one of our local newspapers. Can this be true?

Children smuggled into the United Kingdom for sex abuse and slavery
Most victims become prostitutes or servants. Violence used to control and break in youngsters.
by Paul Lewis, Thursday June 12, 2007 The Guardian
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The trade in hundreds of children smuggled into the UK for sexual exploitation, drug smuggling, under-age marriage, street crime and domestic slavery was exposed last night in a government report. The Home Office-commissioned survey identifies 330 cases of suspected or confirmed victims of trafficking - most of them from China or from Africa - but warns of an unknown quantity that have not come, as yet, to the attention of the authorities.

Organized gangs, including some highly sophisticated criminal syndicates, are profiting from trafficking children as young as nine months old into the country. In the case of African victims, the traffickers have been identified as white British nationals. The report which was produced by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) centre reveals:
  • Concern over the safety of trafficked children placed in the care of local authorities. Over half of those in the study have gone missing, amid fears that some have returned to their captors;
  • Most of the victims are girls and most likely to enter the country through airports to supply the underground sex trade or to work as domestic servants;
  • With controls tightening at Heathrow, Gatwick and Dover, traffickers are choosing smaller entry points such as Prestwick, Belfast, Doncaster, Stansted, Hull and Gravesend;
  • Physical and sexual violence is often used to control and break in the victims, with children gang raped, beaten and burned with cigarettes;
  • Albanian, Chinese and Vietnamese trafficking gangs are the most organized and are linked to criminal networks involved in drug production, identity fraud, money laundering and the sex trade.

The report coincided with the publication of CEOP's first annual review. Several government agencies in hot spot areas - large cities or ports and airports - failed to supply data about trafficked children in their area and the report admits the figures are heavily under represented. The Home Office Minister, Vernon Coker, said: "We're determined to find out the nature and scale of the problem. We're not going to shy away from this report - we'll learn from it and take it forward."

While most of the cases identified concern children aged between 14 and 17, there are fears that the illicit import of much younger children is going undetected. As well as a 9-month old baby, the report documents the cases of a 3-year old, two 4-year olds and eight children aged between 5 and 12, some of whom could have been brought in by adults masquerading as their parents. The report finds that victims have often lived destitute lives in their countries of origin, particularly those from Africa smuggled into Britain to work as domestic slaves or in the underground sex trade. These children describe their previous life in terms of war, abject and relative poverty, years of physical and sexual abuse, miscarried abortions, prison, witnessing murders, neglect and a desire to escape. Some of the girls believed they were being rescued from their destitution and still refer to their captors who brought them into the UK as their 'rescuers'.

Eastern European trafficking victims - particularly girls - are seen as easier to smuggle than other nationalities because their EU passports are not checked as thoroughly.

The report recommends developing a national intelligence picture of the nature and scale of trafficking in the UK. It advocates the establishment of a dedicated unit for gathering information on the problem as a matter of priority; and, the use of biometric data to help track children.




18 comments:

Tea said...

This is incredibly horrific! The only solution, and this would be highly extreme and impossible would be to have every child wear an implant device, like some pets wear :( . Sad that it`s no longer safe for children, even to go to school these days. So many preditors out there. It`s sick.

tea
xo

Jo said...

Suffer the little children...

In Asia children are bought and sold all the time. It's a multi-billion dollar business. Children are even being used to make the souvenirs, etc., for the Olympics that are going to be held in china. It's horrific. I admire folks like Brad and Angelina who rescue these children and give them a home. More people should do that.

Great post!

Josie

Hopalong Cassidy said...

tea & margaritas in my garden:

Your right, it "is incredibly horrific!". And while the "only solution" would be "highly extreme", it would not be "impossible" if the governments of the countries of this world actually cared about the world's people. But unfortunately, those governments for the most part don't care.

Belizegial:
Thanks for reminding us of some of the terrible conditions that presently exist in this world. It makes me wish that Gene, Roy, Gary, John, Clint and myself could ride out and collectively solve the problem, but unfortunately we can't.
In the meantime, we must each do whatever little part we can do to stop such terrible conditions.

Ian Lidster said...

The exploitation of children in such a manner is rampant in Eastern Europe, tragically. I have a friend who has done a lot of work in orphanages in the Ukraine and she has told me that kids in the orphanage get sold by the institutions and are sent into either prostitution, or pornographic pedophilic films, or both. It's hideous. So, if there, why not be people from those places now living in the UK.
A powerful piece and a good one to bring up, my dear friend.
Ian

Anonymous said...

With the collapse of the Soviet Empire, criminal organizations have become a growth industry that seems to be unstoppable. The action is taking place not only in Russia but all over the ex Soviet states and satellites. In Moldova, for instance, a huge number of young, poor women and girls are lured into West with the promise of well paying jobs but ending up as a prostitutes in big cities.

I am far from being an expert, but I venture to suggest, that perhaps the solution is to heavily and decidedly crack down the demand side of the equation. The Western European governments, the EU, and ultimately the people must make it their priority to stop this utterly unacceptable and disgusting trade on fellow humans. At least we can do this if we so desire.

Diane@Diane's Place said...

It's not just a European tragedy, I know it happens here in the US and I daresay most any of the developed countries. It breaks my heart.

Thanks for dropping by my blog and for your sweet words about my granddaughter. It's always nice to meet new blogging friends. ;-)

Hugs,

Diane

Unknown said...

This sickens me because we can do more. What has to happen is that nations have to come together and have a "Zero Tolerance" of this abuse. Good for you, Enid for bringing up a tough but necessary subject!

Anonymous said...

This is defintiely horrible. But I do believe the missing children in this country when not found are somewhere in a situation like this. I just wished that the world was so different!

Thanks for commenting at rosebooks.

Portrait of Peter said...

I too am horrified upon reading your post and will most certainly check this out here and raise this with my own Member of Parliament.

Given this particular newspaper's high standing - I believe their article and this does need to be addressed without delay.

Thank you for raising this post.

Dr. Deb said...

Oh, how terrible.

heiresschild said...

hi enid, it's interesting that you did this article now because it's all over the news here about the pedophile ring that was busted, beginning in canada, extending to tennessee, and the headquarters or the largest part of the ring was in britain. the feds had been watching and investigating them for about a year. so far they've gotten about 200 plus, and expect more arrests. the ringleader is only 28 yrs old, and he was perpertrating a man of God exploiting all of those young children. i'm glad they were caught, and i'm glad the pic was pasted all over the t.v. for all to see.

Belizegial said...

It's always nice to see familiar faces here and a big welcome to newcomers - Pekka, Diane J and Portrait of Peter.

Thanks to all you for your invaluable input on this topic raised. I was really not sure what to make of the article and your comments have certainly helped to clarify for me the extreme urgency of preventing this type of abuse and kidnapping of innocent youngsters from re-occurring anywhere in the world.

Enid

Pfingston said...

It is so sad, yet true everywhere . . . I'm afraid.
It breaks my heart, it really does.

Wow. I came over after your comment on my blog (thank you) and here I am swept away in deep thought . . .

My pregnant brain does't shift gears so well at the moment . . .I think I'm gonna get some coffee . . .

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