Child traffickers target soft touch UK, say MPs

Child traffickers are honing in on the UK because it is easy for them to move victims through British ports and local authority care homes, the chairman of a parliamentary inquiry into human trafficking has warned.

Keith Vaz, head of the home affairs select committee, said he and colleagues were "very concerned" about low funding for law enforcement agencies to fight trafficking, and he asked for an urgent government review of the number of foreign ­children missing from local ­authority care.

Five suspected victims of child trafficking go missing from care around ports and ­airports in the UK every week, according to estimates published in the Guardian newspaper. "Because we are failing to track down the victims of trafficking, we are encouraging more to be sent," said Mr Vaz. "There is a duty of care to make sure young people are tracked down and safe, and to tackle the problem with the origin countries which we are not doing successfully."

There is "a growing ­connection" between local authority care facilities and trafficking, exemplified he said by the case last week of 77 Chinese children missing from a single care home next to Heathrow airport since March 2006, only four of whom have been found. Two girls had been exploited as prostitutes in the Midlands, and others were suspected of having been forced to work in the drug trade and illegal labour.

The committee's report, due out on Thursday is likely to raise pressure on ministers to reform the national approach to tackling child trafficking, which Gordon Brown has described as "a truly appalling crime that deserves our urgent attention".

Traffickers are also starting to exploit local authority care homes as collection points for victims in areas around other airports, including Manchester and Stansted, in Essex, according to police sources. "More effort is needed to reduce the attractiveness of the UK as a ­destination country, and more work is needed to safeguard those children who do make it to the UK and are exploited," said Vaz. "We need a consistent approach across all local authority areas and police areas. There is a lack of co-ordination between all the agencies. It is something we heard in open ­evidence."

Immigration minister Phil Woolas said child trafficking was "a very difficult issue, as children can be coerced or misled"."We're having real success targeting the routes used by the criminals who prey on these vulnerable youngsters – a joint operation has seen 12 traffickers arrested in the past 12 months alone," he said. "We work with local authorities to ensure the best care for vulnerable children identified by UK Border Agency officers at ports. We have a welfare code of practice on keeping children safe from harm, and our latest bill will make the code law."

By Hayley Jarvis for SOS Children