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ACPO [Association of Chief Police Officers of England Wales, and Northern Ireland] publishes report on trafficking of migrant women in off-street prostitution
A report published today by ACPO puts a more accurate figure on the number of migrant women trafficked to work in brothels and other premises across England and Wales.
Project Acumen, was commissioned by the ACPO migration business area, to gain a better understanding of the nature and extent of the trafficking of foreign nationals for sexual exploitation.
The report, called Setting the Record, involved a widespread collaboration between a number of law enforcement agencies, non-government organisations and has been independently academically reviewed. It also has the support of government as providing the most comprehensive estimate of the levels of trafficking for sexual exploitation.
It found that around 17,000 of the estimated 30,000 women involved in off-street prostitution in England and Wales are migrants. Approximately half come from Eastern Europe and a third from Asia.
These women were grouped into three categories: those who were trafficked, those who are vulnerable and those who meet neither threshold. Of the 17,000 migrant women identified, 2,600 were deemed to have been trafficked and a further 9,200 were deemed vulnerable migrants who may be further victims of trafficking. Most of those trafficked (2,200) are from Asia, primarily China.
ACPO lead on migration and associated matters Deputy Chief Constable Chris Eyre said:
�Human trafficking for sexual exploitation involves the most extreme abuse of individuals in our communities.
�We recognise that Project Acumen focuses on only one area of trafficking, but it clearly sets out the scale of the problems that those in law enforcement, victim support, social care and border protection, collectively face.
�It provides us with a more sophisticated and nuanced understanding of how migrant women are involved in prostitution - how they are influenced, controlled, coerced, exploited and trafficked.
�The publication of this report represents not the end of a process, but the start. We now have a better picture of the extent of trafficking and will look to support from Government to ensure we work effectively with all agencies to make the UK a more hostile environment for traffickers, to shut down trafficking routes into the UK and to prosecute those who are exploiting women for their own gains.�
Immigration Minister Damian Green said:
�Human trafficking is a brutal form of organised crime where people are traded as commodities and exploited for profit by criminal gangs. Combating trafficking and looking after its victims is a priority for the new Government.
�In order to combat trafficking more effectively we need to understand it better, and Project Acumen marks significant progress. Having any number of people trafficked into the UK is unacceptable, therefore it is vital that we use Acumen to re-focus our efforts both at targeting the criminal gangs that trade in this human misery and in helping victims escape and recover from their ordeal.�
ENDS
Notes for Editors
� A copy of the report � Setting the Record � can be found here: http://www.acpo.police.uk/asp/policies/Data/Setting%20the%20Record%20(Project%20ACUMEN)%20Aug%202010.pdf� The research for Project Acumen was co-ordinated over a 12 month period by the Regional Intelligence Unit for the South West with the assistance of the Metropolitan Police�s SCD9 Human Exploitation and Organised Crime Unit.
� Case studies of recent successful court cases involved women trafficked and sexually exploited are available from the ACPO press office.
� The ACPO Press Office can be contacted via 020 7084 8946/47/48 (office hours) or via 07803 903686 (out of office hours).
� The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) is an independent, professionally led strategic body. In the public interest and, in equal and active partnership with Government and the Association of Police Authorities, ACPO leads and co-ordinates the direction and development of the police service in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In times of national need ACPO, on behalf of all chief officers, coordinates the strategic policing response.
� ACPO�s 338 members consist of 251 Chief Police Officers from the Home forces of Assistant Chief Constable rank (Commanders in the Metropolitan Police and City of London Police) and above, plus 70 Senior Police Staff members from the 44 forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Non Home forces such as British Transport Police have 14 Chief Police Officer members and there are 3 members from the Service Police.
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