Government misses child trafficking deadline
The government has come under fire for failing to meet a deadline to provide guardians for children who have been trafficked into the UK.
The children’s charity Ecpat UK said an EU directive from 2011, due to be implemented by 6 April, should also have resulted in the creation of an anti-trafficking commissioner, and action to prevent prosecutions of trafficked children who have been forced into crime.
Bharti Patel, chief executive of Ecpat, said the government’s current approach to trafficked children is “not up to scratch”.
”The government states that it has a series of ‘equivalent mechanisms’ that bring it into compliance with the EU directive,” she said.
“Quite simply, these are not up to scratch. As long as the government continues to shy away from fully committing itself to the directive’s measures, our ability to effectively combat human trafficking and protect its victims will be seriously undermined.
“We urge the government to wholeheartedly commit to the introduction of these measures as part of our shared mission to effectively tackle a crime that is tantamount to modern-day slavery.”
Last month, the Children’s Society called on the government to take urgent action to protect child victims of trafficking after a reportestimated there were almost 400 cases of children in modern-day slavery in the UK in 2012.
The study by the Centre for Social Justice found children had been subjected to forced labour, sexual exploitation, domestic servitude and forced criminality.
A Home Office spokesman said: “Human trafficking is abhorrent and we are committed to combating this crime in all its forms.
“That is why we opted into the EU directive in July 2011 and why we have taken additional steps to fully comply with the directive and strengthen our approach.
“From later this year the National Crime Agency will build on existing work to combat trafficking by using its enhanced crime fighting and intelligence capabilities to target criminal gangs.”
Source: CYPNoq
