Alarm at scale of child trafficking

Rebecca Mowling|Evening Standard Crime Reporter

13 April 2012

Fresh concerns about child trafficking were raised today as a new report revealed how hundreds of unaccompanied children arrive in Britain each month.

Around a third are at risk of being exploited as unpaid domestic servants or even forced into prostitution. Almost 2,000 children arrived in the course of the threemonth study, 12 of whom are still officially listed as missing.

The figures were revealed after a major pol ice operat ion at Heathrow airport which monitored the extent of child trafficking. Operation Paladin Child was set up following cases such as that of eight-year-old Victoria Climbié ¡nd the "Adam" torso discovered in the Thames.

Victoria's parents sent her from the Ivory Coast to Britain in 1999 and entrusted her to the care of her great-aunt in the hope she would have a better future here. Instead, after a year of horrific abuse, she was murdered.

The torso killing in September 2001 was linked to voodoo after the victim was butchered in a ritual ceremony. Detectives, who named the unidentified boy Adam, discovered he was from Nigeria.

The study found:

1,904 unaccompanied children arrived in Britain through Heathrow from outside the EU between August and November last year.
Only nine per cent (166) claimed asylum on arrival, the majority of whom came from Afghanistan, and were taken into the care of social services.
Investigators found that half of the remaining 1,738 arriving without guardians were of African origin. Most were Nigerian (112 girls and 73 boys) followed by South African (142 children) and Ghanaian (89).
Most of those arriving (87 per cent) were aged from six to 16. A third were under the age of 11.
About 30 per cent of the arrivals (551) were considered at risk and their details were passed on to social services for investigation.

Officers fear the recent expansion of the EU may provide an increased opportunity for the easier trafficking of children.

Head of child protection Detective Chief Superintendent Peter Spindler, leading the investigation, revealed officers became aware of the numbers of children coming into Britain following the highprofile cases of Victoria Climbié ¡nd "Adam".

DCS Spindler said: "While many are here for legitimate reasons to study or join family, there is a small number who give rise for concern and we want to focus on that group. Children are facilitated here for a better life but some are exploited for economic reasons, forced into domestic servitude, sexual abuse or ritual abuse and organ donation."

He added: "This study only focuses on one port of entry to the UK and on non-EU passport holders. Victoria Climbié £ame in through France on an EU passport. Consequently, we are still unaware of the scale of unaccompanied minors coming into the UK through European channels."

Officers worked with immigration, social services and the NSPCC and will make 26 recommendationsto the Government. Another case to cause concern was that of Toni-Ann Byfield. The seven-year-old Jamaican girl had been sent by her mother to the UK so she could be looked after by a family friend, but was soon placed with foster parents.

A series of blunders by social services meant she started spending time at the Kensal Green flat of the man who was thought to be her father. Both were shot dead in a drugs-related incident.

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