Child trafficking, one of the modern evils includes recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring of children for the purpose of exploiting them. Child trafficking almost always is synonymous with child sexual exploitation. Child trafficking is also synonymous with developing and under-developed countries in Latin America, Asia and Africa. What is astonishing is the recent report that British-born children have been victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation. In the heartland of Europe, where people assume the safety of children, traffickers and pimps have been using young children for the purposes of prostitution, drug trafficking and crimes as well.
A recent government report talks about an ‘emerging issue’ of British children being trafficked within the U.K. Children in Britain, as many as 18,000 may have been victims of child sexploitation. Shockingly, most venues for these exploitations take place in ‘very, very, ordinary’ places such as lower middle class and middle class neighborhoods and most neighbors don’t suspect anything to be wrong either. Out of the 800 or more premises that were raided, about 600 of them were residential, 157 were massage parlors, saunas, nail bars and the like which are more likely to turn out to be brothels.
Another appalling fact seems to be the method of these traffickers. Men, usually older, lure girls with drugs and gifts of money in cash and kind, act as boyfriends and groom the girls to be prostitutes. The girls usually go ‘missing’ from home to be with their boyfriends who are actually pimps, and succumb to prostitution due to violence and threats. The girls will have to provide sexual favors to the boyfriend’s ‘friends’. Most are subjected to rape, violence, and forced to traffic and peddle drugs. Some girls, as young as 12 are forced to perform sexual acts up to 20 times a night. Majority of the victims are from China and South-east Asian countries with a smaller number of girls from Eastern Europe. Girls who are not citizens of U.K and are staying illegally have been granted up to 45 days of grace to stay on.
Another issue is that of the resistance by the girls to be rescued, that is, they believe they are better off in their present condition than being rescued and according to the police, they go to extra-ordinary lengths to escape rescuers. The police so far have made 232 arrests but that is not a reason to rejoice as the problems seems to be deep rooted. The authorities are in Britain are taking all the steps they possibly could, to track the traffickers and the girls. So far, it has been an annoyingly slow and disturbing job for those trying to rescue and rehabilitate the girls.
Via: Guardian
Comments
Something of a reverse trend! Never really expected this. It needs to be seen who are the victims? I think they will be from the immigrant families from 3rd world countries. It needs international cooperation to curb such cross border trafficking and nations would have to come together crossing political barriers.
Yes its really surprising that English girls are being trafficked. However, the trafficking is limited within the territory and since they don’t cross the international borders, they can be very elusive. Chinese girls born in Britain or new immigrants, as you rightly pointed out about the third world countries, are being trafficked more than the white girls. However, white English girls aren’t safe from these guys either.
So many youn european girls end up on Mexico, held as sex slaves or pimped to strip clubs..It’s a dirty , nasty truth that must be addressed globally!
I am a teen girl and me and other girls are raising money for girls who are trafficked.
Its funny though, cause those traffickers don’t pick married girls who cover themselves up, its those girls in stip clubs and girls on the street who have they’re boobs and butts hanging out there for everyone to see. thats what attracts traffickers.