Are you inadvertently contributing to child trafficking? - 07/09/2009 15:47

According to a recent survey, one in ten Britons are unaware that child trafficking occurs in the UK and more than one in five may be unwittingly aiding this modern day slave trade. In this culture of disbelief and wilful blindness, the trafficking trade looks set to prosper, especially amid the global economic crisis as a further 65 million people are expected to fall below the poverty line. The UK has become a hub for human trafficking, with children from 52 countries trafficked into the UK in the last year. The vast majority of these children are sold into sexual exploitation but they are also trafficked into domestic servitude, restaurant work, selling DVDs or drugs on the street, street crime, begging and even benefit fraud. Whether the children were sold by their parents, abducted or deceived by the traffickers, when they arrive here they find life to be akin to DI Gordon Valentine, head of the Metropolitan Police specialist child trafficking team, has said that anyone using services provided by vulnerable children was encouraging the crime of trafficking: If you buy off these children who are selling DVDs, especially during school hours, that must be questionable. People who are giving to children who are begging, or people who visit brothels that are using children - these people are fuelling an awful crime. The now socially acceptable crime of smoking cannabis is another trade relying on trafficked children in the UK to both work on illegal indoor farms and to sell the drug on the streets. So what can we do to put a stop to this horrendous crime? Be aware - of the darker side of the street. Keep your eyes open on the streets around you, if you see anything suspicious you should notify Crimestoppers or your local children's Think - before giving money to a child begging on the street, before buying pirated DVDs or even flowers from a street vendor. Share - with others what you now know. Spread the word of the extent of trafficking in the UK and inspire others to join the cause so that together we can put a stop to it....