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The Equality and Human Rights Commission has written to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, recommending that the UK Government use its Modern Slavery Bill as an opportunity to better protect the rights of child victims and punish offenders. 

Trafficking is a serious human rights violation and a covert crime with a complex chain of offenders moving victims across or within our borders. Child victims are often hidden in plain sight, trafficked to the UK for cheap labour, prostitution, domestic servitude, or forced into a life of crime. 

The Government’s Modern Slavery Bill is a welcome development to help tackle these issues, but gaps in the proposed legislation mean those who recruit vulnerable children, or harbour or receive children for the purposes of exploitation, may still go unpunished.  As the Bill only covers England and Wales, there will be a need for proper co-ordination with the Scottish Government when it publishes its planned human trafficking bill later this year.  

Victims of child trafficking often experience severe trauma and isolation and are unable to navigate the UK’s complex immigration system. Approximately 60% of child victims go missing from local authority care. Two thirds are never found; those that are, tend to be in the hands of the criminals who trafficked them. The Commission is concerned that the Government does not believe it is necessary to appoint Guardians to help protect the rights of these child victims, even though this protection is required by international law.

These recommendations are part of the Commission’s Submission to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, as the Committee prepares to examine a Home Office led delegation from the UK next month. The UN will be assessing implementation of the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, an international treaty under the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which the UK signed up to in 2009. 

The submission identifies key issues the Commission believes the UN should raise with the UK Government, and a number of actions it considers should be implemented through the Modern Slavery Bill and policy to support its implementation, including: 

•    improvements to the draft Modern Slavery Bill to ensure that all acts of trafficking and forced labour – along the whole supply chain - are criminalised, and that the law is clear, simple and easy to use;

•    providing the proposed UK Anti-Slavery Commissioner with sufficient independence, powers and resources to effectively tackle their role;

•    improvements to services to support child victims, including the introduction of a Trafficking Care Standard, the appointment of guardians for victims of child trafficking, and access to compensation for child victims;

•    addressing concerns about the impact of reforms to civil legal aid and judicial review, and the introduction of a residence test on the rights of child victims; 

•    Improvements to data collection and analysis to ensure the true extent and nature of child trafficking and forced labour in the UK is understood;

•    reviewing and making statutory, the Crown Prosecution Service’s guidance for prosecuting child trafficking cases, ensuring the best interests of the child is a primary consideration; and

•    improvements to the identification and protection of child victims and those at risk of trafficking or forced labour.

EHRC Commissioner, Sarah Veale said:

 

“The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is an international human rights treaty that focuses on fairness, dignity, respect and freedom for children in all areas of life. Human rights are for everyone, and there is a particular importance that society protects the rights of children who are often not able to speak up for themselves. 

 

“The UK is one of 193 countries that have signed up to the Convention and by doing so it is obliged to protect and fulfil children’s rights. Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, supplements the Convention and aims to protect the most vulnerable by tackling the exploitation and abuse of children.

 

“Since the last periodic review by the Committee, the Government has made efforts to tackle key issues such as child trafficking and forced labour but there is still further scope for improvement in a number of areas which we have highlighted.”

 

Ends 

For more press information contact the Commission’s media office on 0161 8298102, out of hours 07767 272 818. 

Notes to Editors

•    The Submission can be found on the EHRC website here – http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/legal-and-policy/consultation-responses/

•    The Convention on the Rights of the Child’s Optional Protocol on the Sale of the Child came into force in 2002 and the UK Government ratified it in 2009. More information on the Convention and the Committee can be found here - http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CRC.aspx

•    The Equality and Human Rights Commission is a statutory body established under the Equality Act 2006. It took over the responsibilities of Commission for Racial Equality, Disability Rights Commission and Equal Opportunities Commission.  It is the independent advocate for equality and human rights in Britain.  It aims to reduce inequality, eliminate discrimination, strengthen good relations between people, and promote and protect human rights.  The Commission enforces equality legislation on age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation. It encourages compliance with the Human Rights Act and is recognised by the UN as an ‘A status’ National Human Rights Institute.  It also gives advice and guidance to businesses, the voluntary and public sectors, and to individuals.