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Tackle child exploitation, Ministers urged
Maggie Stratton THE Government is being urged to protect increasing numbers of children being trafficked into this country and forced into the sex trade and exploitative labour.
Unicef today publishes a new report, Child Labour Today, exposing global child exploitation. It shows one in 12 of the world's children are involved in the worst forms of child labour – hazardous work, slavery, forced labour, in armed forces, commercial sexual exploitation and illicit activities.
While 97 per cent of them live in developing countries, Unicef is also calling on the Government to develop a national strategy to address child trafficking to home shores.
The report says that 352 million children aged five to 17 are engaged in some type of work and globally an estimated 114 million of primary school age are not enrolled in school, depriving one in five children of an education.
Based on reports from social services, police and immigration, it is known at least 250 children were trafficked into the United Kingdom between 1999 and 2003.
Unicef believes the true figure is much higher and that in the vast majority of cases children are brought in for labour.
The report says the restaurant trade is a prime emp-loyer of trafficked children. Others are employed in domestic labour or for gangmasters in farms and factor-ies. Girls have been brought to work in the sex trade.
Unicef wants Ministers to appoint a single agency to co-ordinate counter-trafficking efforts and a national strategy to combat the growing problem of child trafficking.
"There are critical gaps in the identification, referral, care and protection of all children trafficked into the UK," the report says.
All over the world children are exploited anywhere that loopholes or gaps exist in the structures that should protect them.
The report adds: "Even in the UK children's rights are still not being taken seriously enough."
While accepting some work is beneficial to young people, it shows the issue of working children is still largely ignored in this country and children may be exposed to levels of risk that are not acceptable. The vast majority – 79 per cent – who work here do so without the permit required by law for all employees of school age.
More than 90 per cent of local authorities have by-laws on school-age working that conflict with national legislation.
The hours that children are not allowed to work in this country are before 7am or after 7pm, for longer than 12 hours during the school week or for more than two hours on a Sunday.
Researchers found many examples of children working outside the law, but said since reports began five years ago there have been only 38 prosecutions for the improper employment of children.
Unicef UK's executive director David Bull said: "One way to put an end to the exploitation of children highlighted in this report is by taking action to make poverty history and ensuring a commitment to more and better international aid.
"Over 30 years ago the richest countries committed themselves to giving 0.7 per cent of gross national income to overseas aid yet today only five countries – Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Sweden – are fulfilling their promise.
"One billion children around the world are still living in poverty and this is an unacceptable injustice."
maggie.stratton@ypn.co.uk
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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