Human Trafficking

Human Trafficking:

Is defined as 'The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.'

It is illegal and takes the form of commercial sexula exploitation or forced labor; a modern-day form of slavery. It is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world, tied with the illegal arms industry as the second largest, after the drug-trade.

• Home Office research found that up to 1420 women were trafficked into the UK  for sexual exploitation in 1998. The figure was based solely on reported cases, and trafficking in people is understood bye the police and by organisations that work with victims to be increasing exponentially - because it is extremely profitable, with 'High Demand' and little capital outlay needed at the start
  
• Sex in the City, a 2004 report by victims support agency, the Poppy Project, found that women from Eastern Europe, South East Asia and West Africa are known to be trafficked into the UK for sexual exploitation
  
• Metropolitan police estimate trafficked women forced into prostitiution in London see between 20 and 30 men per day 

Child Trafficking:

Is a form of abuse. It involves moving children for the purpose of exploitation. Types of exploitation include domestic servitude, forced labour, forced criminality (street crime, petty theft, cannabis cultivation, drug dealing) prostitution or sexual abuse, illegal adoption, benefit fraud, forced marriage. Children may be trafficked witin their own country, or across borders. British children are also vulnerable to trafficking.

If You Suspect That a Child May Have Been Trafficked Contact:

• Children's Social Care Asylum Team
  
• Referral and Assessment Team

For More Information:

• Harrow Local Safeguarding Childrens Board
  
• SOCA (Serious ORganised Crime Agency)
  
• ECPAT (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes)
  
• Poppy Project

In An Emergency Always Dial 999