Trafficking in Human Beings (Hansard, 17 December 2001)

§ Lord Rooker

The Government are committed to putting in place effective measures to combat the trafficking of human beings and to penalise those engaged in this abhorrent practice. To this end, the United Kingdom has signed the Trafficking Protocol to the United Nations Convention on Transnational Organised Crime, which requires the specific criminalisation of trafficking in human beings. The Government are also currently negotiating an European Union (EU) Framework Decision, which is a binding European Union instrument and requires criminalisation of trafficking in human beings for the purposes of exploiting their labour and services or for sexual exploitation. Under its provisions, the UK will be required to have implemented the instrument within two years of its adoption.

Measuring the scope of people trafficking is problematic due to the hidden nature of the act. However, a Home Office research study Stopping Traffic (Police Research Series 125), published last year, indicated that, although there was intelligence to suggest that some women and children are trafficked into the UK for the purposes of sexual exploitation, there was no evidence to suggest that the problem in the UK was on the same scale as in some other EU countries.

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The UK is contributing to the EU STOP Programme, which was set up by a joint action of the European Council in 1996. This programme provides support to member state organisations responsible for action against the trade in human beings and the sexual exploitation of children. A European Council decision of 28 June 2001 established a second phase of this programme (STOP II).

As part of a multi-faceted approach, people trafficking is also being addressed from the prevention end. We are developing a cross-departmental strategic approach to trafficking that will include a more joined up government lead programme on prevention and the care of potential and actual people trafficking victims. We know that children are trafficked for a number of reasons, including adoption and child labour as well as sexual exploitation. With this in mind, there are also plans to build on existing trafficking prevention projects to educate potential victims of the dangers, particularly for women and children. The Department for International Development (DfID) and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) already fund such projects in source countries and assist with repatriation and reintegration of people trafficked in an attempt to prevent multiple victimisation in the future. In collaboration with these countries and international organisations, DfID supports a project by the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) aimed at combating the trafficking of children in certain subregions.

In addition, we set up Project Reflex last year, which is a multi-agency task force chaired by the National Crime Squad, to co-ordinate action against organised immigration crime, including people trafficking, and to develop the intelligence and strategic planning to underpin them. It is now well established and has already resulted in some major successes, involving partners overseas, in disrupting organised criminal groups involved in bringing people to the UK.