ecpat uk    
protecting children everywhere donate now
home
about us
how you can help
Three small steps campaign
Campaign background
Campaign teaching resources
Campaign FAQ
Take action against UK reservation
resources
contact

John from the Democratic Republic of Congo, age 17

He was separated from his family in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) during the civil war. He has no idea whether they are still alive. He was living on the streets when he was picked up by a man who took him into his home. The man took him to Burundi where he was sexually abused. He was threatened with death if he ran away.

After some months he was trafficked from Burundi to Spain and given false documents showing him as a mature adult. He was instructed on what to tell the authorities to claim asylum. In Spain he was sexually abused through prostitution with older men; he worked in gay bars but was not given any money himself. After some time he was trafficked to France where he spent only one month before being trafficked to England. Once in London, one man helped John escape to Birmingham and helped him claim asylum in a different name with a younger date of birth. During this time John received threatening emails from the traffickers.

The local authority put John in accommodation with other young people. The Home Office didnÕt believe he was a child and one week later he was taken from his accommodation early in the morning and returned to Spain. John is 17 now.

JohnÕs removal under immigration control placed him at even greater risk and is counter to all international obligations for the protection of victims of human trafficking, whether over or under 18 years of age.

If the Council of Europe Trafficking Convention was ratified, the government would have been obliged to give John the benefit of the doubt and support him as a child until his age is assessed. Even if he was found to be over 18, as a victim of trafficking he would have still been given protection and been allowed some time for reflection. He would not have been returned to a country from which he had been trafficked.

The Three Small Steps Campaign is calling on the government to ratify the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings without delay since it stipulates the basic standards of victim protection.



Campaign Background

Take Action Now

The ECPAT UK and World Vision launch of the Three Small Steps campaign at Portcullis House.
20th February 2007

Alarming Numbers of Missing Children

330 children have been identified as potential victims of trafficking in the UK between March 2005 and December 2006 according to the Home Office. And this is only a snapshot in some local authorities Ð nobody knows the real figures. 55 per cent of these children are missing without trace - some of them will have been re-trafficked.

Although the UK Government recognises that human trafficking is a major concern for the UK and has launched an Action Plan to tackle it, much has still to be done to ensure that trafficked children receive the care and protection they are entitled to.

Victims will have to wait

The government signed the Council of EuropeÕs Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings but victims of trafficking in the UK will not be protected by it. Plans for ratification go as far as 2009 and this means hundreds of victims will go unprotected until then. This is not good enough.

ECPAT UK is calling on the UK Government to put into practice as soon as possible the Council of Europe Trafficking Convention that says how victims of trafficking should be treated.

Second hand children

Most trafficked children are simply ÔprocessedÕ as unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. Unfortunately, at present this means them being treated more like unwanted immigrants than children with particular needs and vulnerabilities. Despite government assurances that asylum-seeking children in the UK Ôreceive adequate care, protection and supportÕ, evidence from a variety of sources suggests that this is not the case and that many vulnerable children are being failed by the system.

How is this possible?

The UK government believes that giving non-citizen children equal rights to citizen children would undermine its determination to maintain strict and effective immigration control. This is reflected in the UK reservation to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on immigration and nationality. According to this the UK, in effect, accepts no responsibility for upholding the rights of children under immigration control. Victims of trafficking are among the children to whom the reservation applies and it creates many of the problems they face. This goes against the ConventionÕs principles of non-discrimination and regard for the best interests of the child. It also undermines the notion, set forth in the 2004 ChildrenÕs Act, that ÔEvery Child MattersÕ in the UK and has the right, regardless of their background or circumstances, to receive the support they need. This continuing discrimination is a disgrace and brings into question the sincerity of the UK GovernmentÕs intent to tackle child trafficking.

ECPAT UK is calling on the UK Government to agree that trafficked children should have all the rights set out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and withdraw its reservation.

If you donÕt know it, you cannot fight it

Without an independent watchdog (also called a Rapporteur), it is not possible to ensure that the policies the government develops can reduce child trafficking and ensure survivors are adequately supported. The setting up of the current structures Ð the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, the Serious Organised Crime Agency and the UK Human Trafficking Centre, as well as the Inter-Departmental Ministerial Group on Human Trafficking is very good progress. However, in comparison to the establishment of these bodies, the creation of a national watchdog will be one small step, but it will soon make a great difference in the way these agencies work.

ECPAT UK is calling on the UK Government to appoint a Child Trafficking Watchdog Ð an independent expert on the issue to report on what is happening and recommend change.



Back to Top >>     Campaign teaching resources>>