A report out in May 2009, showed that 325 children have been identified as victims of trafficking in the UK (generally official stats are quite conservative and numbers are often hampered becasue some victims are falsely identified as illegal immigrants rather than victims of trafficking)
Victims came from 52 countries, particularly China, the UK, Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Romania (That’s British children being trafficking in and around Britain thus highlighting trafficking is not just a ‘foreign’ problem or something affecting other people somewhere else)
68% were girls – 76% were trafficked for sexual exploitation. 29% were boys – 53% were trafficked for forced labour. The rest are unknown. (Generally, on a global scale 80% of victims are female…. Why women are more vulnerable to trafficking is a blog piece in the making. Check back next week)
British children were trafficked internally for sexual exploitation (repeat my previous comment about British children).
Of the victims identified, 56% arrived by air, 9% through the Channel Tunnel, 36% unknown. (Children, men and women are being taken into airports, ports and stations in a town you live in. keep your eyes peeled. Read / hand out our SPOT THE TRAFFIK leaflet
http://www.stopthetraffik.org/downloads/flexicard_download.pdf)
11 of the children were imprisoned and prosecuted for crimes they were forced to commit, even though this is prohibited by the Council of Europe Convention and UK Criminal Prosecution Service guidance. (WHAT?! This is outrageous and highlights that more people need to be trained about trafficking and what it looks like…. that’s where we come in folks!)