Vanished: the child victims of trafficking

More than 180 children recently trafficked illegally into the UK have since gone missing without trace from social services care, according to a Unicef report warning that the government is failing to protect vulnerable youngsters brought into the country.

The study published today calling for new safeguarding measures says official figures significantly underestimate the "hidden crime" of child trafficking, which sees children as young as five brought secretly into Britain to work as domestic servants, in cannabis factories, or for sexual exploitation or under-age marriage.

Most children identified and put into care, usually living in hostels or bed and breakfast accommodation, simply disappear. They may be lured away again by criminals or the same traffickers who brought them illegally into the country, according to campaigners.
 
Government figures highlighted in the Unicef study reveal that of 72 Chinese children known to have been trafficked into Britain during 18 months in 2005-6, 63 (88%) have since gone missing.

Of the 140 boys identified as trafficked into the country during that period, three quarters are now missing from care. In total, 183 of the 330 trafficking victims were now missing.