NSPCC opens first UK advice line to help combat child trafficking.

The NSPCC today (8 October 2007) launches the first advice and information line to protect children trafficked to the UK for sexual exploitation, forced labour, drugs transport, benefit fraud, and other crimes.

The NSPCC Child Trafficking Advice and Information Line (CTAIL) on 0800 107 7057 will help people working with children, such as immigration officers, the police, social workers, teachers, and health workers, to better identify and protect child victims. It will also shed light on the scale of child trafficking in the UK.

The free service has been set up with funding from the Home Office and Comic Relief. It will run in partnership with the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) and End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT UK).

Since 2003 the NSPCC has received referrals of trafficked children to its London-based Streetmatters/Bfree group, which helps sexually exploited girls and young women. A number of trafficked young people who have benefited from the service will help to guide the NSPCC and its partners on the future development of the Child Trafficking Advice and Information Line.

A 2007 CEOP study uncovered 330 suspected and confirmed cases of trafficked children in the UK. The report concluded that lack of awareness of trafficking among people working with children and young people suggests the true scale of the problem is much higher. The study also revealed a need for better training and resources on how to identify and protect trafficked children.1

NSPCC director and chief executive Dame Mary Marsh said: “The NSPCC’s advice line will play a major role in stopping the exploitation of trafficked children and in understanding the scale and the nature of the problem in the UK.

“Identifying trafficked children can be very difficult, even for a professional working in social services or immigration. These children are incredibly vulnerable – they might be regularly beaten, raped, denied food and basic comforts, and have no access to healthcare or an education.

“Trafficked children have often lost their trust in adults because of the abuse they have suffered. They are afraid to ask for help for fear of retaliation from their trafficker or being treated as criminals by the UK authorities. They may also be confused about what has happened to them, or may not speak any English.

“The NSPCC’s new trafficking advice line will help break down these barriers. Its success will depend on adults working with children being vigilant, calling us when they need to know what to do, and intervening to help protect the victims of child trafficking.”

As well as giving advice and information the line will also refer callers to other agencies, including sources of direct support for trafficked children, and provide training to professions and community organisations working with children.

Representatives from CEOP will work alongside NSPCC staff to provide advice and information on law enforcement issues, and link up with the UK’s Human Trafficking Centre (UKHTC) for guidance on trafficking-related police operations.

The NSPCC is calling on the Government to ensure that children and young people who have been trafficked have the right to remain in the UK, should they wish to, so they can be given counselling and legal assistance to protect them from further exploitation and abuse.2

Common signs that a child may have been trafficked include:

Children who seem confused about their living arrangements, or how they came to be in the UK.

Adults who appear to be controlling a child’s ability to communicate with others or take part in normal life.

A child being looked after by adults whose relationship to them is unclear.

A young person who regularly goes missing from local authority care and turns up at different locations around the country.

A child who is known to regularly beg for money or is linked to criminal activity.

A child who has not been enrolled at a school, registered with a GP and whose contact with social services is being hampered by their supposed carer.

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See attached sheet for supporting quotes.
Media office on 020 7825 2516. Out of hours mobile 07976 206 625.
Notes to editors:

1. A Scoping Project On Child Trafficking In The UK (CEOP, June 2007). Full report available at http://www.ceop.gov.uk/pdfs/Child%20Trafficking%20Report%20June%202007.pdf

2. The UK Government ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1992. At the time of the it entered a reservation to the Convention which states that: “The United Kingdom reserves the right to apply such legislation in so far as it relates to the entry into, stay in and departure from the United Kingdom on those who do not have the right under the law of the United Kingdom to enter and remain in the United Kingdom and the acquisition and possession of citizenship as it may deem necessary from time to time.” The NSPCC believes that the UK government should remove its reservation from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in relation to immigration control.

3. The Child Trafficking Advice and Information Line will initially operate from 9.30am till 4.30pm on weekdays. The line will accept calls from anywhere in the UK.

4. The Child Trafficking Advice and Information Line will be funded during its first three years with a grant of £309,090 from the Home Office and £368,684 from Comic Relief.

5. Members of the public with concerns about a child should call the NSPCC’s 24-hour Child Protection Helpline on 0808 800 5000.

6. Trafficking’ has been defined in various ways over the years and by different groups. The NSPCC recognises the widely used definition from the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children (also known as the Palermo Protocol). According to the Palermo Protocol, trafficking in persons is “the act of recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation.”

7. The Welsh Assembly Government recently released for consultation guidance for professionals on safeguarding children who may have been trafficked. More at http://new.wales.gov.uk/topics/health/news/trafficking?lang=en

8. The NSPCC’s purpose is to end cruelty to children. Its vision is of a society where all children are loved, valued and able to fulfil their potential. We seek to achieve cultural, social and political change – influencing legislation, policy, practice, attitudes and behaviours for the benefit of children and young people. For more information visit www.nspcc.org.uk.

9. The Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre is a law enforcement agency and works in both online and offline environments. Full information on all areas of work as well as online safety messages and access to online reporting can be found at www.ceop.gov.uk or for children at www.thinkuknow.co.uk. For media enquiries contact CEOP Press Office on 0870 000 3434.

10. ECPAT UK – End Child Pornography, Child Prostitution and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Exploitation – is a leading children’s rights organisation and coalition of children’s charities including, Anti-Slavery International, Barnardo’s, Jubilee Campaign, NSPCC, Save the Children, World Vision UK, The Body Shop Foundation, The Children’s Society and UNICEF UK. ECPAT UK is also the official UK representative of the international ECPAT movement that spans the globe in over 70 countries. See www.ecpat.org.uk Media spokesperson: Chris Beddoe, Director, ECPAT UK. Tel +44 (0) 07906 341 889

11. Comic Relief is an organisation seriously committed to bringing about a just world free from poverty. It recognises that trafficked young people and those that have been sexually abused through prostitution are some of the most vulnerable in the UK. As part of its Young People Exploited Through Prostitution, Trafficking and the Internet UK grant programme Comic Relief is providing £368,684 over three years towards funding the advice line. Support to the advice line will ensure that many more children and young people will get the help they need to overcome their abuse and make more positive choices in their lives. Comic Relief, registered charity 326568.

Launch of the NSPCC Child Trafficking Advice and Information Line (CTAIL) –

supporting quotes from partner agencies.

Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker said: "Child trafficking is an appalling crime. We are committed to ensuring the victims of this crime are identified at the earliest opportunity and given the help and support they need to overcome their ordeal. That is why we have helped to fund the Child Trafficking Advice and Information Line, which will provide vital information and advice to social workers, police and immigration officers coming into contact with children they believe may be victims of trafficking or being exploited in some way. In March we also launched the UK Action Plan on Tackling Human Trafficking which outlined a range of measures which directly address ways of improving the identification and safeguarding victims of child trafficking."

Chief Executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre, and ACPO Lead for Child Trafficking, Jim Gamble said: “Children are not a commodity. That they are trafficked into this country for exploitation is abhorrent and this must stop. All too often it can be difficult to recognise a trafficked child for a variety of reasons, but we must be vigilant. The new NSPCC advice line will provide a valuable service to professionals at the front line of child protection in not only identifying child victims of trafficking and their abusers, but will work to ensure those children have the right level of care and support.”

CEO of Comic Relief Kevin Cahill said: “Comic Relief has been supporting the NSPCC’s work for a number of years and we are very proud to have co-funded the new Child Trafficking Advice and Information Line. This means that any professionals working with children who are concerned that they may have been trafficked into the UK have somewhere to turn to for advice.”

Director of ECPAT UK Christine Beddoe said: “The Child Trafficking Advice and Information Line is a significant step forward in safeguarding child victims of trafficking. ECPAT UK believes that the only way to prevent human trafficking is to provide the best standard of care and protection to victims. The advice line will pave the way for professionals from all sectors to be readily connected to good practice standards and guidance. ECPAT UK is proud to be associated with the NSPCC Child Trafficking Advice and Information Line and we will work with the service to offer training to professionals as part of a holistic approach to increasing knowledge and information on child trafficking across the UK.”

Head of the Refugee Council Children’s Section Jane Dykins said: “We welcome this initiative, which will provide much-needed support for professionals working with such a vulnerable group of children. The launch of the Child Trafficking Advice Line is particularly timely in light of worrying reports recently of trafficked children going missing. We are learning more and more about the needs and experiences of these children, and the advice line will provide a vital source of updated information to help all those working with them to protect and look after them in the best way they can.”