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Child sex trafficking 'within UK'

Wed, 2008-07-02 12:36 - Kerry

The Press Association, posted 2 July 2008

British-born children are being trafficked for sexual exploitation within the UK.

Police officers involved in a project which targeted human trafficking said it was a mistake to believe that all children targeted by pimps had been brought in from other countries.

A Government report said there was an "emerging issue" of British children, usually teenage girls, being trafficked within the UK.

It also emerged that new measures are underway to tackle the problem of children being forced into criminal activities such as working in cannabis farms and street crime gangs.

Further measures are under way to combat the trafficking of children into Britain to make fraudulent welfare claims.

Figures released at the end of a six-month crackdown on people traffickers showed 167 victims were rescued across Britain and Ireland and 528 suspected traffickers were arrested. It included 13 children aged between 14 and 17 who were rescued from sexual exploitation and two children who were under forced labour.

Home Office minister Vernon Coaker said it was difficult to establish the scale of the problem with internal trafficking.

Gloucestershire Chief Constable Dr Tim Brain, who co-ordinated the major trafficking crackdown known as Operation Pentameter Two, said it had revealed a large number of brothels in apparently ordinary suburban locations.

Out of more than 800 premises visited by this campaign, nearly 600 were residential and 157 were massage parlours, saunas and nail bars, which are the more traditional "front" for brothels.

Latest estimates by police are that there may be as many 18,000 trafficked victims that are forced to work as prostitutes, Dr Brain went on.

http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hteNb9orcuHDWagXW4ohft8d7uNg

Related article:    Police say 167 victims, including 12 children, have been rescued in a major crackdown on human trafficking. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7485339.stm

Comments

Wed, 2008-07-02 12:52 — Kerry

Changing the traffic-pattern?

In another related article, written in 2006, it's mentioned that the trafficking of women for the sex-trade has diminished.

More than 4,000 women working in the sex trade have been brought into the UK for prostitution, research suggests.

The Home Office study also states that cases of human trafficking have risen over the last two to three years.

But Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker says demand for sex with trafficked women is falling.

He told MPs that adverts telling men they could be charged with rape if they pay for sex with a woman working under duress was increasing awareness.

Police behind Operation Pentameter, a four-month crackdown which saved 84 trafficked women from prostitution, have written to men's magazines and distributed leaflets to people going to the World Cup in Germany.

Challenges

Mr Coaker told Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights there was evidence that demand for sex with trafficked women had fallen as a result.

"We think there is evidence of the fact that the punters, on the various websites, that their behaviour has been influenced by these messages that have been going out," he said.

"We know that we need to do more with respect to many of these things. We know there are challenges that we have to meet.

"This is a new area of work - it's something that five, 10 years ago perhaps, people very rarely talked of.

"But it's a major challenge for us and we're determined to do what we can to beat it."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/politics/5118942.stm

Published: 2006/06/26 17:53:18 GMT

Does this article suggest it was the women's writing in men's magazines that helped decrease the user-rate of adult prostitution?  If so, has the hunger for older children grown - because the article does not mention the number of CHILDREN being used in the international sex industry.  Clearly, more people need to get involved in the lives of those being used and abused against their will... especially since the children hurt today will grow to become the angry adults of tomorrow.  Silence in this situation can only be deadly.

Sat, 2008-07-05 08:48 — Robin

Anyone know where I can find the answer

I would be interested to know what proportion of children trafficked and involved in the sex industry within the UK have previously spent time in care in the UK and what kind of care?

Tue, 2008-07-08 22:52 — brianiasi

Child sex trafficking 'within UK'

Only a fool would think that it was only imigrants that were trafficked in the UK. In the major cities and towns English children have been working the streets with pimps controlling them for years, plus one has to realize here that many a child of say Indian or Pakistani origin was in fact born in the UK and is a British citizen.

Brian.