Child Trafficking: A Social Work Issue? Prof Viviene Cree The University of Edinburgh July 2012

Global statistics UNICEF tell us that child trafficking is a global problem affecting large numbers of children who are ‘trafficked for cheap labour and sexual exploitation’, with estimates that as many as 1.2 million are trafficked every year (

UN ‘Palermo Protocol ‘the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation’ (

UK’s Strategic Threat Assessment  Says that lots of social workers don’t think this is a problem – but they should ‘… boys and girls of all ages are trafficked into and throughout the UK from all over the world and exploited for many different purposes including sexual exploitation, forced labour, benefit fraud and criminal enterprise (such as the cultivation of cannabis and street crime)’ (CEOP, 2010: 5).

Some UK statistics (CEOP, 2010) 287 children from 47 countries identified as ‘potential victims of trafficking’ during the period 1 March 2009 to 28 February 2010 Most from Vietnam (58), Nigeria (40), China (24), and ‘a significant number’ of Roma children (32) also identified 71% were between 14 and 17 years of age; 56% were female & with 34% were male

But…problem with these stats 11 out of 21 police forces in UK did not respond – including many from major ports 10 out of 17 children’s services who responded gave nil returns Trafficking offences often recorded by police under a different or lesser offence ‘often difficult to evidence that a child was brought to the UK against their will’

Scotland’s scoping study ‘When children are sold, or stolen, or simply taken off the street and transported thousands of miles, it is an international scandal. When children are raped or exploited as slaves in households or “businesses” in Scotland, it becomes our national scandal. When we fail to notice, fail to pick up the signs and fail to act on children’s trauma, it demands action’ (SCCYP, 2010: 5).

Some Scottish statistics 14 cases were received by the UKBA Office for Scotland and Northern Ireland 5 ‘demonstrated reasonable grounds of having been trafficked’ and of those 5, ‘4 later received positive conclusive decisions’; 8 cases were ‘pending’. Of the 14 ‘possible cases’, 3 were boys and 11 girls; the majority were between 14 & 18, although one was 2 and another 4 years old

Why so low? ‘Lack of awareness’ ? ‘Discrepancy’ between the no. of children practitioners who said they were concerned in a web-based survey & the actual number of reported cases? ‘Likely to have been over 200 children’ trafficked (SCCYP, 2010: 13) But - no convictions for trafficking offences in Scotland

And again… ‘Human trafficking is a crime against humanity and is growing across the world. How many people are trafficked into Scotland? Does it matter? If we’ve had one, then there’s guaranteed to be more and more’ And of course the Rochdale case…

Lessons from history July 1885, ‘The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon’ series, published in the Pall Mall Gazette in London Led to the passing of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 And to the establishment of worldwide organisations to deal with trafficking and ‘the white slave trade’

Issues here Stories told were lurid and titillating There was an undercurrent of racism as well as issues around gender, age and social class The panic this engendered led to the passing of extremely cruel legislation

Implications for today? Not suggesting that child trafficking isn’t a problem - it is, but it is likely to be related to poverty, and to migration – ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors here (Pearce 2011) It may also be about sexual abuse – when children are sold into prostitution Need to be clear – an unaccompanied asylum seeker is not the same as trafficked child

Lessons for social work Need to question orthodoxies; to stand back from understandings promoted by others (police, medics, politicians, media etc) and foreground our own, social work values and perspectives Need to think carefully about concepts of childhood, agency and consent Beware of the racism implicit in much of this Also think more about our views about sex

Conclusion Child trafficking is a real problem, with potentially damaging consequences for children, families and communities worldwide But by responding to child trafficking panics without critical reflection, we become part of the problem, reinforcing negative stereotypes and failing to offer a social analysis to the problem

Following up this paper This paper draws from an article recently accepted for publication by British Journal of Social Work - Cree, V.E., Clapton, G. and Smith, M. ‘The Presentation of Child Trafficking. An Old and New Moral Panic?’ Watch out for a new seminar series on moral panics to be held between Nov 2012 and Nov 2013 in Edinburgh, Bath & Cardiff inarone.html