Nick Herbert MP
Minister of State
Home Office

4 August 2010

Dear Nick,

Guardianship for Child victims of trafficking in the UK

I am writing to you regarding the above, following a letter from a constituent, concerned that there is a lack of care, protection and support for child victims of trafficking in the UK. As a signatory of Early Day Motion 513, I share my constituent's concerns.

The hundreds of children trafficked to the UK from all over the world each year are amongst the most vulnerable children in the country. In addition to suffering abuse at the hands of traffickers, these children are in the UK without parents or legal guardians. I hope you agree that the state has a duty to step in to try and ease the fearful, lonely and unsupported position of these vulnerable children. I should therefore be grateful for your response for the call for a system of guardianship for child victims of trafficking to enable children to turn to responsible adult guidance to assist them through the welfare, legal, asylum and immigration processes.

You will no doubt be aware of ECPAT's campaign on this issue. I hope the Government will support the organisation's call for guardians to be appointed to child victims of trafficking to be given the following responsibilities:

- Parental responsibility to care for and support them and to take decisions based on their best interests
- To ensure that the child receives the educational, medical, practical and legal support they need to help rebuild their lives.

For ease of reference, the text of EDM 513 is reproduced overleaf and I should be grateful for your response to the points raised by the Motion, in addition to the points raised above.

GUARDIANSHIP FOR CHILD VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING
That this House believes that child victims of trafficking are some of the most vulnerable children in the UK; notes that while there exists a range of guidance to ensure a higher level of support and protection for child victims of trafficking, there remain substantial gaps in this system of support and these vulnerable children are not able to rely on one responsible adult with parental responsibility to care and support them and take decisions based on their best interests; believes that a system of guardianship would provide child victims of trafficking with someone to prevent them from facing further exploitation, reduce the risk of them going missing and ensure they receive the educational, medical, practical and legal support they need to help rebuild their lives; further notes that a system of guardianship is a requirement of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings and is a key recommendation of the UK anti-Trafficking Monitoring Group, made up of nine leading charities, including ECPAT UK and UNICEF UK; and therefore calls on the Government to introduce a system of guardianship for child victims of trafficking.

Yours sincerely,

Caroline Lucas MP, Brighton Pavilion