Fears for UK retreat over human trafficking as key staff are lost | Law | The Observer

David Cameron's promise to tackle trafficking said to be in disarray after an exodus of expert Home Office staff

• Mark Townsend, home affairs editor
• guardian.co.uk, Saturday 14 May 2011 20.49 BST
• Article history

Plight of trafficked women is slipping down the political agenda. (Picture posed by model.) Photograph: Niall Carson/PA
David Cameron's promise to tackle human trafficking is said to be in disarray after an exodus of expert Home Office staff and the sidelining of the official in charge of the policy. A former police officer – one of the most senior figures to have been involved in investigating trafficking, who requested anonymity for fear of repercussions – said: "One of the concerns is the lack of continuity of staff at the Home Office. The entire original team has gone." Cameron has repeatedly stated that trafficking is a priority for the coalition; only last week immigration minister Damian Green told parliament: "The UK is a world leader in its anti-trafficking work, but that does not mean we should stand still." But the inter-ministerial group on human trafficking has met only once, while specific targets for tackling the issue no longer feature on the Home Office website. The voluntary sector, meanwhile, claims that officials are refusing to set agendas on trafficking or provide detailed timescales for action. The government was due to unveil its four-part strategy to disrupt trafficking in March, but sources say it will appear in June at the earliest. Even the government's recent decision to endorse the EU directive on human trafficking has led to concerns among MPs, who fear that ministers will be unwilling to appoint an independent rapporteur who would investigate government policies on trafficking and tell parliament whether the UK is fulfilling its obligations. There are also concerns over the treatment of victims after they have escaped from their abusers. Evidence suggests that such women are being classified as illegal immigrants rather than victims of a crime. The Poppy Project, widely acknowledged as the UK's leading organisation for trafficking victims, and which last week had its Home Office funding removed after eight years, said there had been four attempts at forced deportations of victims in the past three weeks, compared with two in the previous three years. A Home Office spokesman said: "There has been no delay. The strategy will be published shortly. The government remains committed to working with our international partners and seeking the views of expert groups in the UK to tackle this awful crime." Opting into the EU trafficking directive and a new border police command would help target organised criminals. A Home Office source said the changes to personnel were a routine staff redeployment and rejected claims of a lack of expertise among officials. Anti-trafficking plans, he said, would appear on the Home Office website when the strategy was published.

 Fears for UK retreat over human trafficking as key staff are lost | Law | The Observer
Source: guardian.co.uk 

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New EU directive aims to fight human trafficking more effectively

The European Union has just taken a major step forward to combat trafficking in human beings. A new directive containing a common definition of the crime and the levels of sanctions in the area of human trafficking has been adopted.

Highlights of the directive:

1. A broad concept of what should be considered trafficking in human beings.

2. Penalties for traffickers have been extended from 8 to 10 years within the EU.

3. EU Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that  victims of human trafficking are not punished for their compelled involvement in criminal activities.

4. Each Member State will have to investigate and prosecute offences committed in whole or in part within its territory or committed by one of its nationals, even outside of its territory.

5. Member States should provide free legal assistance for victims of human trafficking, in case the victim does not have sufficient financial resources, and special protective measures are envisaged for child victims.

Several prevention measures, such as regular training for officials, awareness raising campaigns and measures discouraging the demand, complete the purpose of this new set of rules. The directive is the first agreement between the Council and the European Parliament in the area of substantive criminal law after the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty. Participating Member States must implement the new rules into national legislation within the next two years.

For more information visit the website of the Commission of the European Union.

Full version of the DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

Legal framework, International Organization

SOurce: ungift.org
New EU directive aims to fight human trafficking more effectively

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• UK to join fight against human trafficking (independent.co.uk)

Britain opts in to EU rules on human trafficking

(AFP)

22 March 2011,

LONDON — Britain said Tuesday it would opt in a European Union directive on human trafficking, days after the country saw its first case of “modern-day slavery” involving a woman trafficked from Tanzania.

The government had been waiting to see the final draft of the directive before signing up, and one day after the rules came into effect, Home Office Minister Damian Green said London would play its part.

“Opting in would send a powerful message to traffickers that Britain is not a soft touch and that we remain world leaders in fighting this terrible crime,” Green said in a statement.

Lawmakers will now be consulted on the decision and the government will publish a strategy on human trafficking in the coming months, he said, adding that the issue was a “priority”.

More than 700 suspected cases of human trafficking were referred to the UK Human Trafficking Centre, a multi-agency body, in the year to March 2010.

Three-quarters of victims were women and almost half the cases involved sexual exploitation. The largest number, 123, came from Nigeria.

Last week Saaeda Khan, 68, was found guilty of trafficking Mwanahanisi Mruke into Britain from Tanzania for exploitation, after prosecutors said she had kept the woman in conditions akin to “modern-day slavery”.

Khan was ordered to pay 49-year-old Mruke £25,000 ($40,000, 28,750 euros) but was spared jail because of her own ill health and the fact she had two adult disabled children, the judge said.

The new EU rules will broaden out the definition of the crime — from sexual exploitation and slave labour to forced begging and removal of organs — which is estimated to rake in 2.5 billion euros a year, and set harsher penalties.

Source:khaleejtimes.com/
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Sign here Mr Cameron to stop human trafficking - Crime, UK - The Independent

Mother forced into prostitution hands in IoS petition urging No 10 to back EU directive aimed at ending vile trade in people

By Emily Dugan

Sunday, 20 March 2011

FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA

Oxana Kalemi, in the red coat, with fellow campaigners in Downing Street

• enlarge

Oxana Kalemi's journey to 10 Downing Street has been a long and dangerous one. In 2004, she was trafficked from the Ukraine to Britain and tricked into what could have been a life-sentence of enslaved prostitution.

Yesterday, she struck a blow against the criminals who had enslaved her when she demanded that David Cameron toughens Britain's laws on human trafficking.

She was one of more than 46,000 people who have backed an Independent on Sunday campaign calling on the Government to sign up to European Union regulations on tackling the trade in people.

Tomorrow, the EU directive on human trafficking will become law across most of Europe, bringing with it better protection for victims and increasing the chance of prosecutions against the gangs that exploit them. Still, the British Government refuses to sign up.

Ms Kalemi, 35, handed in the petition alongside representatives from The Independent on Sunday, Anti-Slavery International and the campaigning website 38 Degrees.

She now lives in Yorkshire after escaping the gang who had held her captive in Birmingham, forcing her to have sex with up to 15 men a day. "Today is a big day for me," she said. "I know as a victim how many people are trafficked, This is a global problem. Politicians seem to talk a lot about being tough on trafficking but they need to do something.

"I want to know what Cameron's excuse is for not signing up to such an important law. It's very worrying that he isn't working with the EU to solve this problem. Most of the girls I saw were trafficked from places like Romania and Poland – places in Europe. How can Britain stop this crime if they won't work with Europe?"

Ms Kalemi was forced to leave her children and smuggled into Britain to work as prostitute in 2004 after being trafficked across countless European countries. In 2009, she published the story of her ordeal Mummy Come Home.

Receiving the petition, a Home Office spokeswoman said: "We are looking closely at the finalised text and considering its merits. If we conclude that opting-in would be of benefit, we can apply to opt-in and will make an announcement in due course."

The EU directive was passed by a large majority of European MPs, including Conservative MEPs, on 18 December. Only Britain and Denmark chose not to opt-in and now the other 25 EU members have two years to bring the new law into effect.

Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary and minister for women and equalities, said: "Twenty five European governments will stand together this week and introduce new rules to tackle trafficking and modern-day slavery in Europe. It is shameful that the Conservative-led government is still refusing to sign up."

The actress Juliet Stevenson, who is backing the campaign, said last night: "It is an embarrassment that Britain is the only EU country other than Denmark which has refused to sign up.

"What sort of message does this send to the pimps and gangs wanting to traffic people to Britain?"

Gemma Wolfes, campaigns officer at Anti-Slavery International, said: "Traffickers do not respect national borders, so it is vital that the UK follows the common European approach that's needed to defeat the criminalnetworks profiting from this horrendous crime."

Source: independent.co.uk
Sign here Mr Cameron to stop human trafficking - Crime, UK - The Independent

PM urged to back trafficking moves - mirror.co.uk

Image via Wikipedia

9/02/2011

Prime Minister David Cameron should stop pandering to anti-European sentiments within his party and endorse an EU directive on sex trafficking, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper is to say.

Ms Cooper will condemn the Government's failure to back the measures which aim to co-ordinate European efforts to combat the trade in sex slaves.

She will also outline Labour's approach to tackling human trafficking as millions of people prepare to head to the UK for next year's Olympic Games.

The shadow home secretary will also raise concerns over changes to the UK Human Trafficking Centre and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (Ceop) centre.

In her speech at the Stopping Traffick '11 conference in central London, Ms Cooper will say: "David Cameron must stop pandering to anti-European prejudices in some parts of his party and sign the directive.

"The Olympic Games, dismantling of the UK Human Trafficking Centre and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre and the deep cuts to voluntary groups will all make ending trafficking of vulnerable women and girls a greater challenge. That's why the Government should back tough new measures and Europe-wide action."

She will add: "Now more than ever we need increased leadership and determined action from this Government if one of the most heinous crimes in today's society is to be stopped."

Conference organisers said almost 4,000 women are brought into the UK each year to work within the sex trade, but Britain was one of only two EU member states that have not opted into the directive.

Immigration Minister Damian Green said: "We are committed to tackling human trafficking and have already put in place many of the commitments that the directive requires.

"We are currently looking closely at the latest draft of the directive and considering its merits. If we conclude that opting in brings benefits to the UK, we will apply to do so."

Source: MIRROR.CO.UK
PM urged to back trafficking moves - mirror.co.uk

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London acts to safeguard trafficked children

Image via Wikipedia

Released on 07 February 2011

The London Safeguarding Children Board has launched a new set of guidance and tools to help agencies identify and support children who have been trafficked.

Trafficked children can be subjected to sexual exploitation, enforced labour or drug dealing, sold or forced to commit crime by the organised gangs or individuals who have brought them into the country or trafficked them between cities within the UK.

The London Safeguarding Children Board guidelines aim to support social workers, teachers, police, health workers and other professionals who may come into contact with suspected victims of trafficking.

To test how well the guidance and assessment tools worked in practice, a pilot scheme was carried out involving 12 local authorities, seven of which were in London. The trial was monitored by the London Safeguarding Children Board and a range of partner organisations, including representatives from the Home Office, CEOP, the UK Border Agency and UK Human Trafficking Centre, the Crown Prosecution Service and ECPAT UK.

A total of 56 children were identified during the 14-month pilot, 47 of whom were referred to the National Referral Mechanism, an official system set up following the UK Government’s ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings.

The main findings from the pilot are:

• Once a child is identified as being a victim of trafficking, immediate action must be taken before they go missing. 
• Awareness needs to be raised among the public and professionals who can sometimes underestimate the scale of the issue.
• Multiple interviews with various agencies can be traumatic for young victims of trafficking – a single multi-agency assessment is preferred.
• Teams of agencies need to work more closely together and be more proactive in sharing information quickly with organisations in neighbouring areas as well as the voluntary sector.

Following the pilot scheme, the London Safeguarding Children Board is publishing its Trafficked Children Guidance and Toolkit as a resource for all local authorities and other agencies which may come into contact with trafficked children.

Chair of the London Safeguarding Children Board, Cheryl Coppell said: “The pilot has provided a wealth of knowledge about how we can improve the safeguarding of children suspected of being trafficked.

“Trafficking is a complex form of child abuse and it is essential that agencies proactively work together to identify, assess and help trafficked children to recover from their ordeal.

“Trafficked children are at increased risk of significant harm because they are largely invisible to the professionals and volunteers who would be in a position to assist them. The adults who traffic them take trouble to ensure that the children do not come to the attention of the authorities, or disappear from contact with statutory services soon after arrival in the UK, or in a new area within the UK.

“There are very specific challenges surrounding trafficked children and there could be as little as a golden hour to take action to help them before they go missing.

“We have included the lessons learned from the pilot in our comprehensive guidance which we hope will be a valuable source of information and practical help for local authorities and their partners in safeguarding these vulnerable young people from further harm.”

Chief executive of the CEOP, Peter Davies said: “Child trafficking is a form of child abuse. CEOP identified 287 children from 47 countries trafficked into the UK in 2009-2010.  These children were subject to sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, exploitation in cannabis farms and compelled to perpetrate street crime.

"CEOP is committed to raising awareness of child trafficking among frontline workers in local authorities and their partners. We believe that the London Safeguarding Children Board guidance and toolkit will be an effective resource for the helping frontline workers identify and safeguard trafficked children.”‪‪

ENDS
For a copy of the London Safeguarding Children Board’s Safeguarding Trafficked Children Guidance and Toolkit, visit www.londonscb.gov.uk/trafficking

The 12 local authorities involved in the pilot were: Camden, Croydon, Glasgow, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Islington, Kent, Manchester, Slough, Solihull and Southwark.

The UK Government’s ratified the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings in December 2008. Following this, a National Referral Mechanism was implemented for adults and children trafficked into and within the UK.

Through the Safeguarding Trafficked Children Sub Group, the London Board will continue to support agencies in their efforts to identify, safeguard and protect victims and break the networks that traffic and exploit children.

Source:LondonCouncils
London acts to safeguard trafficked children

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Target brothels or sex traffic will rise, say campaigners | Law | The Observer

Traffic in sex slaves could rise if Britain rejects European anti-vice strategy

• Mark Townsend
• The Observer, Sunday 6 February 2011
• Article history




Police raid a suspected brothel in Surrey. Photograph: Lewis Whyld/PA

Campaigners against sex trafficking call today for a major crackdown on the thousands of brothels in Britain amid accusations that government indifference to the issue is encouraging pimps to target the UK.

The demand comes 10 days after a Romanian father and son, Bogdan, 51, and Marius Nejloveanu, 23, were given jail sentences for trafficking five young women to England. Marius repeatedly raped and beat the women and received the longest sentence for trafficking offences in the UK, 21 years.

One of the women, Marinela Badea, was trafficked in 2008 aged 17 and forced to work in massage parlours and saunas in the Midlands and Manchester. In a shocking interview with the Observer, she described a life of regular rape, brutal beatings and sex with paying clients up to 12 times a day. When she tried to escape, she was savagely punished. "I got punched, a knife in my head, my hair was pulled until it came out," she said.

Europol, the EU criminal intelligence agency, confirmed to the Observer that minors were still being trafficked to Britain and warned that the issue of pan-European trafficking remained a "big" problem. Charities have criticised falling prosecution rates for trafficking.

Abigail Stepnitz, national co-ordinator for the Poppy Project support service, said police should urgently target the brothels masquerading as saunas, massage parlours and private flats. Almost 6,000 have been identified in England and Wales.

Stepnitz said: "The focus on trafficking has been to remove immigration offenders or to prosecute organised criminal networks. From our experience the focus has not neccessarily been on addressing the presence of brothels that create an environment where trafficking can thrive. That has never been the focus."

The last major crackdown, Operation Pentameter 2 in 2008, saw 822 premises visited and the arrest of more than 528 individuals.

Fears are growing among campaigners that ministers appear intent on downgrading trafficking as a priority, a charge denied by the government. In addition, they accuse ministers of attempting to sideline the issue by removing trafficking from the government's violence against women and girls strategy. Tomorrow, trafficking campaigners are due to attend the Home Office for a 90-minute consultation on a proposed new trafficking strategy.

On Wednesday, the government is expected to come under further attack from health experts and MPs at a conference focusing on trafficking issues, entitled Stopping Traffick. Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper will condemn the government's decision not to sign up to the EU Directive on Human Trafficking. Cooper believes coalition leaders David Cameron and Nick Clegg are sending the wrong signal to traffickers by not endorsing the directive on common European efforts to combat the trade in sex slaves.

Davide Ellero, senior specialist at Europol, said that minors continued to be trafficked for sex to the UK. He said: "The problem is big and it stays big. But there are no statistics at European level because every country monitors in a different way."

Source: The Observer

Target brothels or sex traffic will rise, say campaigners | Law | The Observer

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Coalition to scrap sex trafficking safeguards - Crime, UK - The Independent

Coalition to scrap sex trafficking safeguards

Government to close special police units and rebuff EU moves to protect victims and target criminal gangs

By Emily Dugan and Matt Chorley

Sunday, 6 February 2011

Jason Alden

Elena, 25, left Albania in 2007 to start what she thought was a new life in Britain with her boyfriend

• enlarge

Victims of human trafficking will be left at greater risk of exploitation in future, and their traffickers will be harder to prosecute, leading experts and politicians have warned. In many cases, the victims will be subjected to slavery, rape and violence while living in the UK.

They say policies aimed at targeting criminal gangs that smuggle people into the country – and protecting victims that escape from them – are to be scrapped by the Government.

Senior Liberal Democrats have broken ranks to demand ministers sign an EU directive on human trafficking which offers more protection to victims and comes into law later this month. An Independent on Sunday petition urging the Government to sign the directive has more than 20,000 signatures, but the Conservatives are resisting it.

Some 4,000 people, mostly women, are brought into the UK each year to work in the sex trade. Many more – including hundreds of children – are smuggled into the country to be exploited as domestic servants, farm hands or drug cultivators.

Now several specialist policing and investigative units aimed at tackling these crimes are threatened with closure or have already been shut.

The Gang Masters Licensing Authority, which investigates unlawful labour in agriculture and recently found Romanian children as young as nine working in fields, is facing closure. An attempt to save the authority was made last week when an amendment to the Public Bodies Bill was tabled in the Lords.

The Metropolitan Police's Human Trafficking Unit and Operation Golf, focusing on child trafficking, are closed. The government-funded Human Trafficking Centre has been absorbed into the Serious Organised Crime Agency, which is itself being wound up. The Poppy Project, which provides shelter for trafficked women, is also under threat. The Government has put its contract out for tender, asking for a less specialist service to be provided at 60 per cent of the cost.

The Border Agency's "reflection" time for deciding whether a person is trafficked or not is proposed to be reduced from 45 to 30 days, which experts say will put pressure on victims and make correct decisions less likely. In the EU, only Greece and Bulgaria have a time frame this short. In Italy, for example, it is six months.

Despite the new EU directive against trafficking being voted in by almost all UK MEPs – including Tories – it has not been adopted in Britain. Downing Street remains opposed to signing up to new measures on principle, with right-wing Conservative backbenchers keen to reassert their Eurosceptic credentials. A new formal process for the Government to assess EU directives has been established, with Tories seeking to persuade their coalition partners that the Home Office is already meeting – or exceeding – the demands from Brussels on human trafficking.

However, senior Lib Dems – including ministers who are privately pressing for it – believe signing it would be a major victory for their campaign to place civil liberties and human rights at the heart of the Government. 

Tom Brake, Lib Dem home affairs spokesman, said: "The European Union has bent over backwards to accommodate the British Government's concerns. I can see no reason why not to sign up to the directive. It would make a clear statement of the Government's support for trafficked women and its willingness to provide protection and secure convictions. I hope we will be signing on the dotted line as soon as possible."

Speaking at a national conference on human trafficking on Wednesday, shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper will condemn the coalition for letting Euroscepticism colour its decision not to sign the directive. She said: "The Olympic Games, dismantling of the UK Human Trafficking Centre and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre and the deep cuts to voluntary groups will all make ending trafficking of vulnerable women and girls a greater challenge. That's why the Government should back tough new measures and Europe-wide action. David Cameron must stop pandering to anti-European prejudices in some parts of his party and sign the directive."

David Cameron partly justified the coalition's refusal to sign by saying the Government was already compliant with the directive. However, according to a report from Care to be published tomorrow, the UK does not comply with many of its requirements. The study found that Britain was inadequate in its support for child victims. (Three Vietnamese children who were suspected victims of trafficking went missing from care last week.) It says the country is also not compliant because it ignores forced begging as trafficking; cannot prosecute crimes outside Britain; fails to provide universal access to safe accommodation and medical treatment for victims; fails to investigate cases after a victim withdraws statement and does not offer proper protection of victims in criminal proceedings.

Former Conservative MP Anthony Steen, now chair of the Human Trafficking Foundation, said: "The Prime Minister made it plain last year that he wished Britain to lead the way in eradicating modern slavery. Britain is now no more going to lead the way than Bulgaria or Greece will."

This week, charities and support agencies will be consulted for the first time over the Government's trafficking policy, which is to be announced at the end of the month. They say this is tokenism as it is understood the decisions have all been taken. The Home Office has stopped a monthly forum that used to bring officials and NGOs together. A Home Office spokesperson said: "Combating human trafficking is a key government priority. We have already outlined our strategy to tackle trafficking, and with the new National Crime Agency will redouble our efforts to end this brutal form of organised crime."

Case study...

Elena, 25, left Albania in 2007 to start what she thought was a new life in Britain with her boyfriend. When she got to London she realised she had been tricked

"I came over in the back of a lorry. It took seven days and I was tired and scared, but I thought it would be worth it. I left a good life in Albania: a family and a job I loved. But my boyfriend said he would marry me and I thought he would look after me.

"After a few days he said I would have to work for him. He said I'd be working in a restaurant. Then he took me to a flat where there were other girls in skimpy clothes, and left me there. I was given a drink that must have been drugged, because I woke up in bed a night and a day later and my body was blue and I knew something had happened.

"From then on I was his slave. He would hit me and threaten me and I was locked in the flat and forced to have sex with men. They were making money but I saw nothing. It took me more than a year to escape. A punter helped me get out when the bosses weren't home. He gave me a place to stay but he was putting his life in danger.

"Eventually I went to the police and they told me about the sheltered housing at the Poppy Project. Once I got there I was able to start a new life. They referred me to specialist police and I had 45 days to make my case. It felt hard enough having to get my case across within 45 days when I was only just breathing again and didn't yet trust the police. I can't imagine what it would be like if the Government changes it to 30 days now.

"I got refugee status because the gang was so powerful I could not return to Albania. The police are still investigating the gang and now I feel safe. The Poppy Project gave me back my life: with their help I felt able to help the police investigation and got refugee status in this country. Closing their doors will mean opening the doors to traffickers."

 

Join the IoS campaign

The Independent on Sunday is campaigning to persuade the Government to sign up to the EU directive on human trafficking. The directive will strengthen our laws to protect victims, and make it easier to prosecute those who enslave them. Readers can call on David Cameron and Nick Clegg to do the right thing by signing the petition on the campaigning website 38 Degrees.

To sign the petition, go to: www.38degrees.org.uk/stoptrafficking

Source: .independent.co.uk
Coalition to scrap sex trafficking safeguards - Crime, UK - The Independent

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Hundreds of children at risk as police fail to track and prosecute traffickers - Crime, UK - The Independent

Study identifies 'tip of the iceberg' as vulnerable young are smuggled into Britain for fraud, cannabis farming, prostitution, and slavery

By Emily Dugan

Sunday, 2 January 2011

Getty Images. Some 53 'trafficked' children disappeared from care; 42 are still missing

Criminals who traffic hundreds of children into and around the UK are not being adequately investigated or prosecuted, according to the country's leading child-protection unit.

Vulnerable children could be at risk thanks to a lack of knowledge and resources to catch their traffickers, a study from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) reveals. The report says that public sector cuts could exacerbate the situation, with two specialist police units in effect already closed.

Hundreds of children are smuggled into Britain every year and are used for slavery, prostitution or other crimes, according to the CEOP research seen by The Independent on Sunday. At least 287 children were identified as "potential victims" of trafficking between March 2009 and February 2010, a figure that experts say is likely to be the "tip of the iceberg".

More than a third of these children were brought to Britain for the sex trade, while some 18 per cent were made to cultivate cannabis. Children were also smuggled to be used for benefit fraud, forced labour, street crime or as domestic servants.

Some 53 trafficked children – almost one in five of the victims – subsequently went missing from care. Of these, 42 are still recorded as missing.

The report will increase pressure on the Government to sign up to the EU directive on human trafficking, which would make it easier to prosecute traffickers and protect victims.

Appointing independent guardians for child-trafficking victims was recommended by the study, to help prevent so many going missing from care. This is also one of the conditions of an EU directive to which Britain has refused to sign up.

Vietnam was the most common of the 47 countries of origin for trafficked children. The study found 58 Vietnamese child victims, the majority of whom were boys aged 13 to 17, exploited as "gardeners" to cultivate cannabis plants in factories.

The CEOP study, called Strategic Threat Assessment: Child Trafficking in the UK, called on the police to do more to tackle the crime: "The number of trafficking investigations and successful prosecutions must increase in order to act as a deterrent to traffickers," it said. "There are only a handful of UK police forces which have units designated and trained in running investigations into trafficking."

Christine Beddoe, director of End Child Trafficking and Prostitution UK, said: "All indications show that this is just the tip of the iceberg. What is worrying is that so few police forces are identifying trafficked children and prosecuting the traffickers.

"The alarming number of Vietnamese children being trafficked into the UK, yet with no traffickers being arrested, is a disgrace and signals an urgent call to action for police across the UK. The Home Secretary should be responding to Parliament about why so little is being done to protect these vulnerable children."

The Government has said it will launch an "action plan" on trafficking in the spring.

Join The IoS campaign

The Independent on Sunday is campaigning to persuade the Government to sign up to the EU directive on human trafficking. The directive will strengthen our laws to protect victims, and make it easier to prosecute those who enslave them. Readers can call on David Cameron and Nick Clegg to do the right thing by signing the petition on the campaigning website 38 Degrees.

To sign the petition, go to: www.38degrees.org.uk/stop-trafficking

Source: The Independent
Hundreds of children at risk as police fail to track and prosecute traffickers - Crime, UK - The Independent

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Euroalert.net - EC launches dedicated website to fight human trafficking - News about the European Union

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

On 21 December, Commissioner Malmström officially launched the new website dedicated to the fight against trafficking in human beings, a tool which aims at supporting actions in this field. Commissioner Malström was backed by Myria Vassiliadou, the new Anti Trafficking Coordinator, who will act in order to strengthen EU action against human trafficking

The EU Anti Trafficking Website should become a one stop shop at EU level for practitioners and the public interested in knowing more about trafficking and how it is being addressed within the EU. The website will include national information pages of all EU Member States with factual information on legislation, action plans, coordination, prevention, assistance and support to victims, investigation and prosecution and international coordination.

This new website will help raising awareness about human trafficking, while also contributing to the cooperation and mutual understanding among law enforcement agencies, national authorities and others.

At the official launch of the website Commissioner Malmström reminded that the fight against trafficking in human beings is one of Commission's top priorities. The European Union has made a decisive step forward in the harmonisation of policies in this field, thanks to the recent vote made by the European Parliament which endorsed the proposal for a Directive on trafficking in human beings put forward by the European Commission in March 2010.

This Directive will oblige EU Member States to act on three fronts: prosecuting criminals responsible for trafficking human beings, protecting the victims and preventing the offences. Once the text is formally adopted by the Council, Member States will have up to two years to comply with the new rules, which will replace current EU legislation dating from 2002 and will apply to all EU Member States except Denmark and the United Kingdom.

The EU Anti-Trafficking Coordinator, Myria Vassiliadou, who will get a central role in the coordination of EU policies within this field, also welcomed the initiative highlighting that she will do her best to ensure coherence and efficiency of both policies and efforts of those involved in the fight against human trafficking within the EU.

Source:  Euroalert.net
Euroalert.net - EC launches dedicated website to fight human trafficking - News about the European Union

The Commission appoints an EU Anti-Trafficking Coordinator

Image via Wikipedia

Mariah Jen 14 December 2010

The European Commission has today decided to appoint Ms Myria Vassiliadou to the position of European Anti-Trafficking Coordinator. At the same time, the European Parliament has voted in favour of the Directive against trafficking in human beings that the Commission proposed in March.

“Today is an important day for the EU’s fight against this modern day slavery”, emphasises EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmström. “The political agreement today in the European Parliament is most welcome. This shows a broad ambition within the EU that we want to step up our efforts to build a comprehensive European anti-trafficking policy. One important step towards that target is today’s appointment of Myria Vassiliadou as European Anti-Trafficking Coordinator. She will have a central role in coordinating all aspects of our policies against this horrific crime. I am very glad that Ms Vassiliadou has accepted to take up the job and I look forward to working with her”.

Myria Vassiliadou, from Cyprus, is currently Secretary General for the European Women’s Lobby, EWL, based in Brussels. She holds a PhD in Sociology and has an extensive experience in areas such as fundamental rights, trafficking, migration and women’s rights through her work in academia, European institutions and non-governmental organisations.

The Anti-Trafficking Coordinator will improve coordination and coherence between EU institutions, EU agencies, Member States, third countries and international actors. She will help elaborate existing and new EU policies relevant to the fight against trafficking and provide overall strategic policy orientation for the EU’s external policy in this field. The coordinator will report directly to the Director-General of DG Home Affairs.

An effective EU policy on the fight against trafficking will need to draw from many different policy fields, such as police and judicial cooperation, protection of human rights, external relations, migration policies and social and labour law. It will be the task of the anti-trafficking coordinator to ensure coherence between all these policy fields.

Background
The fight against trafficking in human beings is an overarching priority for the Commission and the EU. In March 2010, the Commission proposed legislation obliging EU Member States to act on three fronts: prosecuting criminals responsible for trafficking human beings, protecting the victims and preventing the offences (IP/10/380).

Now that the Directive has been endorsed by the European Parliament, it will have to be formally adopted by the Council before it can enter into force. The new Directive will replace current EU legislation dating from 2002 (Framework Decision 2002/629/JHA) and will apply to all Member States except Denmark and the United Kingdom. Member States will then have to comply with the new rules within two years.

For more information
Homepage of Cecilia Malmström, Commissioner for Home Affairs:

http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/malmstrom/welcome/default_en.htm

Source: IEWY News

The Commission appoints an EU Anti-Trafficking Coordinator

Related articles

• Government opts out of EU human trafficking directive (leftfootforward.org)
• EU to widen human trafficking net (bbc.co.uk)

Yvette Cooper: Blinded by our hostility to Europe - Commentators, Opinion - The Independent

Thursday, 28 October 2010

The political consensus against modern slavery has been shattered. Despite pre-election promises, the Coalition is turning its back on efforts to crack down on criminal gangs across Europe, and increased help for victims of this heinous crime. By refusing to sign up to the EU directive combating human trafficking, the Government has let its hostility to all things European get in the way of sensible cross-border action. Vulnerable women and children are being betrayed.

Human trafficking is serious, current and growing. Victims are bought and sold, sometimes on a promise of a better life. Instead they are forced to work, to beg, are sexually exploited or worse. Children as young as three are sold like commodities. Victims are being physically abused and even imprisoned. It is estimated that more than one person is trafficked across borders every minute of every day. People selling other people is thought to be worth more than twice the global revenue of Coca-Cola.

Shockingly, Britain is the only EU country other than Denmark to have refused to sign up to the new directive. The Prime Minister claims it, "does not go any further than the law that we have already passed". But that is both wrong and missing the point.

For a start the directive increases our ability to take action where British nationals are involved in crimes committed abroad. Currently, if a British child is kidnapped and taken between European countries, we are limited in our ability to act. We are constrained too in our ability to prosecute British nationals who commit trafficking offences in other EU member states. The directive gives us stronger powers to intervene to help our own citizens.

It increases protection for victims too. Children will have a guardian appointed for them – someone legally responsible for them through the court process and beyond. Given that an estimated 64 per cent of identified child victims go missing from social services, this is not only a new but a necessary step to stop these children being trafficked again.

But even if the Prime Minister were correct and Britain were already leading the way, that would be even more reason to sign up now. British ministers and officials should be involved in drafting the EU law, getting the details right and providing leadership. This is clearly an issue where Europe-wide action can make a difference.

As a great believer in subsidiarity – decisions being made as locally as possible – I don't think the EU should take a view on every issue. But trafficking is transnational. If we fail to work across borders, we make it easier for the criminals and the pimps.

So why then are ministers so opposed? Sadly ministers don't seem capable of rational debate about measures with Europe in the title. Hostility to all things European from a very large part of the Coalition is blinding the whole Government to sensible measures that would help bring dangerous criminals to justice both here and abroad.

For the Conservatives, such knee- jerk scepticism is deep-rooted. But the presence of the Liberal Democrats has clearly done little to temper the government view. Instead, ministers seem to be simply sitting on their hands and hoping European legislation will go away. Euroscepticism seems to have given way to Euro-paralysis. Not pulling out but just pretending Europe isn't there.

Yet by doing so they are betraying our national interest, betraying the vulnerable people forced into slavery, and making it easier for criminal gangs. Over 200 years ago, Conservative William Wilberforce led the fight against trading human beings. Modern Conservatives are letting prejudice prevent them from standing firm against today's traders and traffickers. They need an urgent rethink. It's time to ditch the dogma, and stand up for the victims of modern slavery.

The writer is Shadow Foreign Secretary

Yvette Cooper: Blinded by our hostility to Europe - Commentators, Opinion - The Independent

Source: The Independent

The new slaves: Children forced to work as farm labourers - Home News, UK - The Independent

Our campaign aims to persuade the Government to tackle human trafficking

By Emily Dugan

Sunday, 24 October 2010

TIM CARTER

Children as young as five are thought to have worked picking spring onions from 7am until dusk without food or water in this field in Worcester

Seven Romanian children – some as young as nine – were found being forced to work as farm labourers in near-freezing conditions in Worcester last week, The Independent on Sunday has learned.

The children were among 50 Romanian workers discovered picking spring onions in a field in the Kempsey area of Worcester by the Gangmaster's Licensing Authority (GLA). The seven children, aged between nine and 15, were being made to work from 7.30 in the morning until dusk, dressed in thin summer clothes, as temperatures dropped close to zero.

Wellington boots that looked suitable for a five-year-old were also found in the field, suggesting even younger children had worked there. Investigators for the GLA say it is the first time they have come across such young children working in fields in the UK.

They were brought to the field in the back of a box van, with no food or water for the day. Six of the children have been taken into local authority care. Some were working alongside parents, but others appeared to have been brought to the farm on their own.

The workers said they were not sure how much they would be paid, but intelligence suggests that a household of up to 40 people would get no more than £100 a week for the job. The GLA, West Mercia Police and the UK Border Agency are still investigating and plan to arrest at least one unlicensed gangmaster this week.

Paul Whitehouse, chairman of the GLA, said: "In 2007 we celebrated the 200th anniversary of the end of the slave trade, but in 2010 we've got people working in appalling conditions who, while not actually being slaves, are very close to it."

The actress Juliet Stevenson is one of many leading figures supporting the IoS's campaign for an end to modern slavery and human trafficking, describing them as "the worst manifestation of human cruelty".

The actress said: "If it doesn't concern people that someone can be hijacked, kidnapped and manipulated away from their homes and families into horrendous situations that are at best hardship and at worst physical and mental brutality, then what does concern people?"

Stevenson said victims of trafficking who managed to escape their tormenters in Britain often have to go through a second ordeal at the hands of immigration authorities. "If you're not discovered you have to endure ongoing hell, but if you are discovered and thrown into an increasingly ruthless and unjust asylum system then you're also damned."

"Human trafficking represents just about the worst manifestation of human cruelty. If you're talking about the 'great' in Great Britain, let's look at having some moral leadership."

The Government faces calls from a growing number of high-profile campaigners to sign up to the EU directive on human trafficking, which would make it easier to prosecute traffickers and protect victims. Caroline Lucas MP, leader of the Green Party, and Yvette Cooper MP, Shadow Foreign Secretary and Minister for Women, have joined those demanding that the Government opt into EU trafficking legislation. There were signs that the Government feels compelled to respond to pressure to sign up to the directive. Simon Hughes MP, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, said last night: "Signing up to the EU directive has not been ruled out; it is under consideration by the Government."

The GLA is still waiting to hear the size of the cuts it can expect following the Comprehensive Spending Review. The authority is funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which faces budget cuts of 29 per cent.

Voices for change

"It's appalling that, in the 21st century, slavery still exists. That's why the Government must back Europe-wide action against trafficking. By pandering to anti-European prejudices in some parts of the Conservative Party, ministers are putting the safety of thousands of women and children at risk."

Yvette Cooper MP, Shadow Foreign Secretary and Women's Minister

"It seems a no-brainer. I oppose modern slavery like I oppose ancient slavery. Where's the argument? It's like saying 'should we care if someone is killed'."

Joan Bakewell, Broadcaster

"It's definitely a hidden problem because we think of slavery as being abolished. When I hear about modern slavery I tend to think of the Arab princes that bring their own staff and treat them abominably."

Alexei Sayle, Comedian, actor and author

"Wilberforce described slavery as 'a disgrace and a dishonour to this country', and I'd say exactly the same about the coalition's decision to opt out of the EU directive on human trafficking. I've signed this petition on behalf of the Green Party because Greens will always be on the side of people who are vulnerable, oppressed or abused."

Caroline Lucas MP, Leader, Green Party

"I'm astonished that we are so limp in this business. We know it's going on but we don't do anything about it. It's a moral principle. If we go back to Wilberforce, all the moral arguments against slavery were established then and we shouldn't go back on them by neglect."

Brian Sewell, Art critic

"For too long sex slavery and other forms of trafficking have been brushed under the carpet. The Archbishop of Canterbury said sex trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery and it is vital it becomes a public policy issue. The Independent on Sunday's campaign is vital in raising the profile of this issue. It's a shame that David Cameron and William Hague's Euro-scepticism is preventing the UK signing up to the EU directive to protect these people, but I also feel the police should name and shame the people who create the demand."

Denis MacShane, Rotherham MP and former Europe minister

"It's important because it's the thin end of the wedge. So many people rely on the minimum wage so if that's being eroded it can affect a lot of people."

Barry Cryer, Writer and comedian

Interviews by Joe Rowley

Join the IoS campaign

The Independent on Sunday is campaigning to persuade the Government to sign up to the EU directive on human trafficking. The directive will strengthen our laws to protect victims and make it easier to prosecute those who enslave them. Readers can call on David Cameron and Nick Clegg to do the right thing by signing the petition on the campaigning website 38 Degrees.

To sign the petition, go to: www.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/stop-human-trafficking

The new slaves: Children forced to work as farm labourers - Home News, UK - The Independent

Source: The Independent on Sunday