The Child Slaves

A leading expert in child-trafficking has warned that the scourge'' is spreading across the UK. Scotland is known to have a particular problem after increased security has made trafficking more difficult through London airports.

A new report by Save the Children in Scotland has urged the creation of a national database and more training for front-line staff.

This is a depressing scourge at the beginning of a new century. It is not only increasing but expanding systematically across north-west Europe,'' Professor David Barrett from the University of Bedfordshire, an authority on child-trafficking, told the Sunday Herald.

Child-trafficking is incrementally spreading across the UK. The reason is basically market forces. With the demise of other illicit commodities' - for example the price of illegal drugs dropping and the penalties increasing - the money in child-trafficking becomes a better business proposition for organised crime.

Despite the UK government investing heavily in counter measures, there are very few convictions for child-trafficking in the UK. Also there aren't any figures, so no-one actually knows the scale of child-trafficking, although the children's charities do know that it is increasing.'' In 2007, the UK government announced that 330 child victims of trafficking had been identified over an 18-month period. Of these 183 went missing from social services care. Many experts believe that the numbers of trafficked children in the UK could now be in the thousands.

SNP MP Pete Wishart told the House of Commons last month: We in Scotland have particular problems with human-trafficking. The police say that the number of incidents seems to be rising more quickly in Scotland than in the rest of the UK, with the result that it now accounts for 13% of the total trade.'' Detective chief superintendent Campbell Corrigan, chairman of the Scottish Human-Trafficking group, told the Sunday Herald: We know that young people who were trafficked were involved in cannabis factories in Scotland. There are always new versions of child-trafficking developing. For example, there is a modus operandi developing where older children are trafficking younger children and this is something the Scottish Human-Trafficking Group is learning about from the UK human-trafficking centre in Sheffield.'' A recent report by Save the Children in Scotland - A Hidden Trade - calls for a Scottish national database of children whose unusual circumstances when arriving in the UK raise concerns, as well as a need to provide more guidance and training for front-line staff, supported by a clear reporting structure. A review of Scottish legislation in relation to children being abused in domestic settings, is also a key recommendation.

Richard Morran, programme co-ordinator with Save the Children in Scotland, said: The production of cannabis in the UK is big business. It tends to be organised crime which runs these and the gangs recruit exploited young people and adults who are often trafficked to water and tend the plants for Mr Big'. The trafficked children are called gardeners'. When found they must be treated with compassion, as the victims of a great injustice, rather than as criminals or illegal immigrants.'' Morran added: Local authorities are working hard to protect these vulnerable children, however, additional resources and guidance is required from the government to ensure child-trafficking becomes a priority for all professionals that come into contact with these children.'' Kathleen Marshall, Children's Commissioner for Scotland, said: The Save the Children report shows that those working on the front-line believe it is increasing. It is easier than before for children to get lost in the system.

We need a push to develop systems for reporting concerns and monitoring cases, and we need to provide training and guidance on identifying and responding to the needs of some youngsters in desperate circumstances. These children and young people can be little less than slaves and there is no place for slavery in Scotland."

Christine Beddoe, director of ECPAT UK, a coalition of leading children's rights organisations, believes the true number of children trafficked into the UK is likely to be much larger than official figures suggest.

Even if trafficked children are identified, their care and protection is inconsistent, ad hoc and, in some regions, completely absent,'' she said.

There is case evidence which shows children have been trafficked as debt bondage and their documents removed. There are children of 13 or 14 who have been trafficked into cannabis factories, the houses are sealed with the children inside, and these children act as gardeners for the plants.

We need a national rapporteur or watchdog on child-trafficking as they have in the Netherlands, Sweden and Canada. We have a shared responsibility to help the children who are being trafficked. We need a clear joined-up response. The number of cases getting reported is increasing and there are new manifestations of child-trafficking developing all the time.'' Children who are trafficked mainly end up in sexual exploitation such as pornography, cannabis factories or in well-organised gangs running low-level street crimes such as bag snatching, pickpocketing, petty theft and begging, each of which tend to be run by organised crime, or domestic servitude or sold individual-to-individual, both of which tends to be extended family members or family friends''.

Unicef estimates that about 1.2 million children are trafficked each year and have called this the 21st-century slave trade. Some commentators have pointed out that the numbers of trafficking equal that of the number of slaves brought to America in the 18th and 19th century.

The UN says that apart from weapons and drugs, trade in human beings has developed into one of the most lucrative and growing areas of illegal trade.