prove it.’
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1.5.4.3 Children trafficked into drug cultivation
A number of children have been trafficked into the UK in order to cultivate cannabis in one of the UK’s thousands of illegal cannabis farms. The number of cannabis farms discovered by police in the UK has more than doubled in the last four years, with an average of 21 identified every week in 2011.71 The production of cannabis in the UK is a significant
criminal problem – the UK is now an exporter of cannabis as a result of its high levels of cultivation – and there is evidence that children and young people, notably from Vietnam, are being trafficked into the UK to work as ‘gardeners’ in a number of these illegal farms.72
Between 2009 and 2012, Vietnam was the most common country of origin for children
who were identified and referred to the NRM.73 Vietnamese criminal gangs and networks
are prominent in the cannabis trade in the UK and recognition of this emerging trend must accompany any strategic response to child trafficking in the UK.74 An issue particular to this
form of trafficking is the prosecution of children for illegal activities they may commit during the time they are being exploited; this is explored in Chapter Four, section 4.4.5.
71 Association of Chief Police Officers, UK National Problem Profile: Commercial Cultivation of Cannabis 2012, London: ACPO, April 2012, p3 72 The Sunday Times, Homegrown boom turns UK into cannabis exporter, 9 October 2011
73 UKHTC National Referral Mechanism statistics [accessed via: http://www.soca.gov.uk/about-soca/about-the-ukhtc/national-referral- mechanism/statistics (06/02/13)]
74 CEOP, The trafficking of women and children from Vietnam, London: CEOP, 2011, p25; see also The Guardian, Police ‘can’t cope’ as Vietnamese flood drugs trade, 11 September 2005 [accessed via: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/sep/11/ukcrime.drugsandalcohol (26 /09/12)]
‘We had one child who was trafficked into a cannabis farm. I assessed
her as a child. She was then placed in custody until she was taken
into a foster placement. She then went missing and was moved
around the country. She was then exploited in the sex industry
where she became pregnant. She was found again when she was
admitted to hospital having fallen ill with the pregnancy.’
Paul Hadaway, social worker, in evidence to the CSJ
A cannabis farm in the UK where Vietnamese minors were discovered
The safety and health risks for these children and young people are severe; exposed electric wiring and toxic fumes create an extremely dangerous environment. Children trafficked into forced criminality in the UK are also very vulnerable to other forms of abuse.
1.5.4.4 Children trafficked into ‘street crime’: forced begging, pickpocketing and selling illegal products
Children are also trafficked into street crime in the UK. In many cases children can be trafficked by their own families and sent out to beg or steal: parents will move to the UK with their children and then force them into street crime. The CSJ has heard that children in this situation will often think this activity is normal, having been trained and groomed for this activity from a very young age; police have identified children who have been sent out to beg from the age of six years old.75
The crucial point is that such children are unable to consent to their own exploitation. Even if the child does not object to this activity and believes their parents are causing them no harm, this is modern slavery and these children should not be forced onto the streets.
The rights that are enjoyed by so many children in the UK must be available and applied equally to those children who are kept away from school and denied a childhood in order to beg and steal money on the streets of the UK. Children trafficked for street crime may also be used for benefit fraud. This form of exploitation also leads to issues of identification for social workers. In these cases, the exploitation may not be obvious and the fact that children are victims may be missed, as one police officer explained to the CSJ:
‘We will go to an address with social services, and they’re clean, so in the eyes of social services they’re not being neglected or abused. What they don’t see is that the underlying reason they are here is to go and steal. That’s exploitation’.76
75 Detective Sergeant Dan Wright, Metropolitan Police Safer Transport Command, in evidence to the CSJ, July 2012 76 Police officer, in evidence to the CSJ
‘These children are commodities – they can make a lot of money.’
Detective Sergeant Dan Wright, Metropolitan Police Safer Transport Command, in evidence to the CSJ
“There is no consent, but from their perspective they think
‘these are people I know, they are providing me with food,
accommodation and a job’. Professionals can get caught out by
assuming that those children are making a choice.”
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The CSJ has also been told of cases of children forced to sell illegal products such as DVDs. This can be perceived by the child as a way to earn money, but in reality fosters their exploitation and puts them at risk of arrest; the criminalisation of children is explored in Chapter Four, section 4.4.5.
1.5.5 The removal of organs
Recent reports on the forms of trafficking into the UK have included two cases of trafficking for the removal of organs to be used in transplants.77 Given that there were no
documented cases of this in the UK when the CSJ began its review, we have not explored this form of crime. It is, however, of great concern that there have been two cases identified since our research commenced. The CSJ recommends a review, led by the Human Tissue Authority, to be conducted into the safeguards available to prevent the forcible removal of organs and tissue. The CSJ recommends that this is part of a wider investigation into ‘transplant tourism’ and the pressures exerted on the health service to meet the demand for organs and tissue.
1.6 Conclusion
There is an urgent need for the UK to identify and understand the ways in which modern slavery manifests itself, in order to eliminate it. There are many ways in which a person can exploit and abuse another, treating them as a commodity from which to profit or gain. This report will set out measures for tackling this gross abuse of human rights, making practical and realistic recommendations for how this complex crime can be addressed and its victims’ lives restored and rebuilt. A wide variety of agencies and organisations must be involved: a multi-agency approach is crucial, and is the only way to solve the growing and substantial problem of modern slavery.
1.7 Recommendations
77 UKHTC, A Baseline Assessment on the Nature and Scale of Human Trafficking in 2011, Birmingham: Serious Organised Crime Agency, August 2011, p16
Recommendation:
The Human Tissue Authority should conduct a review to look at the safeguards available to prevent the forcible removal of organs and tissue, in light of two recent cases of trafficking for organ removal.
Police forces should develop short-term ‘crackdown and consolidation’ teams in areas which frequently display indicators of modern slavery due to seasonal work.
Local authorities should develop more proactive identification processes for children in private fostering arrangements, through partnerships with schools and health services.
Local authority responses to private fostering arrangements should be included in the criteria for Ofsted inspections.
The Human Tissue Authority should conduct a review to look at the safeguards available to prevent the forcible removal of organs and tissue, in light of two recent cases of trafficking for organ removal.
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