OSCE Special Representative encourages UK Government to improve identification of child victims of trafficking

LONDON, 18 June 2009 - Eva Biaudet, the OSCE Special Representative for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, today commended the UK authorities' recent efforts to combat human trafficking and underscored the need to further improve identification of victims, in particular children trafficked for different forms of exploitation.

"I am particularly worried about the fact that more than 300 potential child victims have been identified yearly and that a significant number of suspected child victims in local authority care go missing, often within 48 hours after identification," said Biaudet, who is on a two-day visit to London.

During her visit, Biaudet participated in a conference on combating child trafficking entitled "Breaking the Wall of Silence". She met Home Office Minister Alan Campbell and representatives of the Parliamentary Committees on Home Affairs and Human Rights, as well as officials of the UK Human Trafficking Centre, the Serious Organized Crime Agency and the Home Office Trafficking Team and representatives of non-governmental organizations providing assistance to victims.

Biaudet stressed that child protection concerns always have to override concerns regarding age and immigration status.

"I welcome recent efforts to revise the UK National Referral Mechanism aimed at improving identification and treatment of trafficked persons. However, I recommend looking into whether law enforcement and immigration authorities who currently are assigned as 'competent authorities' to identify victims, such as the UK Human Trafficking Centre and the UK Border Authority, are alone best equipped for this task," said Biaudet.

"Based on experience from other OSCE participating States, I recommend a multi-agency approach to determining victim status and referral to services, involving child protection professionals and representatives from specialized NGOs providing support to victims."

Biaudet said she was encouraged to hear that the UK Government was bringing forward legislation aimed at reducing demand for sexual services fostering exploitation, which is also recommended by the Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings, recently ratified by the UK.

"Without such legislation sustainable results to end human trafficking for sexual exploitation cannot be achieved," she said.