Britain to probe trafficking of Chinese children

Friday, May 8, 2009 at 2:13 AM Posted by Beijing News


Britain has vowed to investigate a report that traffickers used a children's home near London's Heathrow airport as a "clearing house" for Chinese minors smuggled in to become prostitutes.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown made the pledge after the Guardian newspaper reported that border officials met unaccompanied Chinese children at Heathrow and took them to the home, but they disappeared within days or weeks.

A secret document seen by the paper said that since March 2006, 10 children had jumped out of windows at the 59-bed home, some had disappeared during fire drills and others simply walked out and got into cars waiting outside.

Only four of the children were found. Two girls later reappeared after being forced to work in brothels in central England. One was pregnant while another had undergone surgery to have a contraceptive device fitted in her arm.

Brown said his government would investigate the report.

"Child trafficking is completely unacceptable and inhumane. Anything that we can do to stop child trafficking, we will," he told his weekly question and answer session in parliament.

"We will do everything we can to protect these children and we are leading internationally in asking other countries to help us ban the practice of trafficking children," he added.

The Guardian said it was feared that many of the children taken to the home were forced into prostitution, or to work on cannabis farms or selling counterfeit goods on the streets.

The UK Border Agency document said the missing children had been trafficked by an international network with agents in countries including China, Brazil, Japan, Malaysia and Kenya.

The London council which runs the home said the disappearances appeared to be "planned and coordinated by criminal gangs".

"They were being trafficked and there has been organised movement through the facility," Julian Worcester, the deputy director of children's services for the Hillingdon council, told the newspaper.

The UK Border Agency called on local authorities -- which have responsibility for children's homes -- to be "particularly vigilant" to prevent unaccompanied children falling under the control of traffickers.

A spokeswoman said: "Like any other child in need of protection, local authorities have a statutory duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of trafficked children following an assessment of their individual needs.

"When a child believed to have been trafficked is reported as 'missing' from care, it is essential that the local authority works with the police and the UK Border Agency to locate the child and assist in any prosecution of their traffickers."







Marai

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