New
Dimensions in the Trafficking of Children to the UK
Debbie
Ariyo
Ever since
the death of Victoria Climbié, the eight year old Ivorien girl, in February
2000, practitioners and everyone alike have been trying to analyse how a child
could suffer such a horrific death in a country as civilized as Britain. Victoria
was brought into the UK under a fictitious name by a distant relative under
promise of a good education and a better life in Europe. Nine months after
leaving her native Cote D’Ivoire, she died a victim of the most horrific torture
and pain imaginable. The post mortem examination carried out revealed over
180 different non-accidental injuries on her body.
Almost two
and a half years later, at the height of the September 11 bombings, the Metropolitan
Police in London brought out the torso of an African boy from the River Thames.
Post mortem examinations showed he had been killed in a possible ritualistic
manner and his body thrown in the river. Police investigations later revealed
that ‘Adam’ as he was later called, had probably been brought from the South
of Nigeria via Germany to Britain before he was murdered.
The deaths
of these two children signify a new dimension in the trafficking of children
to the country. Far from what the authorities believed, increasingly, cases
of children trafficked into the country under different guises and for a variety
of purposes are coming to the fore. In addition to children coming into the
country unaccompanied, experts are now faced with the grim reality: one of
the most vulnerable groups of children in the UK today are those coming in
from abroad with traffickers purporting to be parents or relatives. Most often
than not, their parents in Africa would have been deceived into allowing them
come to the UK for a so-called ‘better life’. This group of children like
Victoria and ‘Adam’ are the unknown children. With no proof whatsoever of
their existence or true identity in the country, they do not appear on any
government agency’s radar screen. They are the ‘lost children’, at risk of
extreme forms of exploitation, abuse and harm as highlighted above.
But why
are children increasingly trafficked to the UK? It is generally believed,
for instance, that Victoria Climbié was brought to enable her aunty claim
benefit on arrival in the country having emigrated from France where she was
a citizen. The Metropolitan Police are also considering the possibility that
Adam may have been trafficked for ritual purposes. In July last year, AFRUCA
– Africans Unite Against Child Abuse, based on anecdotal evidence received
from individuals and community groups across London, issued a
press release highlighting reports of the rise in children employed as
domestic servants in the UK. This development has been attributed to the high
costs involved in accessing child-care by the majority African procurers of
such child labour. Increasingly also, local authorities including Kent where
Dover port is based, West Sussex County Council which houses Gatwick Airport
and London Borough of Hillingdon where Heathrow Airport is located, also deal
with regular cases of children suspected to have been trafficked to the country
for sexual exploitation. A lot of these children who come in unaccompanied
end up in local authority care. Some of them are known to disappear shortly
after – as is the case in West Sussex – to end up in exploitative child labour
elsewhere. Some of the girls who disappeared from care in West Sussex, for
instance, have been seen prostituting on the streets in Turino, Italy.
Experts
generally believe that the growth in the trafficking of children has been
largely fuelled by the chronic poverty in Africa. This has led to the custom
of placing children with relatives or friends within the community becoming
increasingly commercialised. Out of financial necessity resulting from dire
poverty, some parents are complicit in either knowingly or unknowingly giving
their children to traffickers for returns in cash or a so-called "better
life".
Until very
recently, government efforts at combating the trafficking of children, as
opposed to the trafficking of women, have been non-existence. A recent positive
step in the Sexual Offences bill is the recognition of trafficking as a criminal
offence with up to 14 years in jail as punishment. This however only considers
trafficking for sexual exploitation and does not include trafficking for other
purposes like domestic labour or benefit fraud. However, as outlined above,
with the increase in the number of children being brought in from African
countries for other purposes, the fear is that little effort will be made
by the police to deal with suspected traffickers of children other than prostitution,
since there is less possibility of a conviction.
Another
recent development that is giving practitioners a cause for concern is the
planned closure of the Safe House for unaccompanied minors in West Sussex.
This Safe House has been used as a form of protection for young girls suspected
of being trafficked into the country via Gatwick Airport, especially en route
Italy. Experts view this as having a long-term implication for the safety
and protection of victims who will now be more accessible to their traffickers
with the risks of re-trafficking.
A lot has
been said about the ease at which children are trafficked into the country
by people claiming to be their parents and or guardians. According to anecdotal
evidence received by AFRUCA, sometimes, the children appear on other people’s
passports as their own children, other times they are brought in using other
children’s genuine travel documents or other false documents. While it might
be difficult at the port of entry to ascertain their true identity, it is
very crucial that mechanisms are put in place to ensure children coming into
the country can be later identified and reached, should the need arise.
Having said
that, there are a number of encouraging steps being considered by the government
to support children entering the country. As outlined in the new
Green Paper "Every Child Matters" published in September 2003,
the government has recognised the need to increase efforts to support children
trafficked into the country. It has promised investing more resources in training
immigration officers to enable them improve their identification of children
at risk and help them respond appropriately. It has also recognised the need
for more joint-working between various agencies to enable better protection
for victims.
Clearly,
the need to safeguard trafficked children is starting to receive the true
recognition it deserves at the center. Despite this, a more international
approach should be adopted to help safeguard potential victims at source.
The false claims of a "better life" for poor, vulnerable African
children in Europe need to be countered by mass awareness raising campaigns
to alert parents to the dangers involved. Such an approach can only serve
to further protect and safeguard children like Victoria and ‘Adam’.