---

Human Trafficking

How do I follow my hon. Friend the Member for Hendon (Mr. Dismore), with his inimitable ability to say an enormous amount in a very short space of time, and the hon. Member for Totnes (Mr. Steen), who made a valuable contribution as well? I shall try not to repeat too much of what has been said. This is a wonderful opportunity to debate a very important report, and I welcome the fact that this year—the 200th anniversary of the beginning of the end of the slave trade—the UK Government signed the Council of Europe convention on action against trafficking in human beings. Most importantly, I welcome the launch of the UK action plan on tackling human trafficking. However, we must remember that this is just the beginning; it is going to be a very long journey. There is no easy answer. We must remember the sorts of the people with whom we are dealing. I understand the disappointment of the hon. Member for Totnes at the number of convictions brought, but we are dealing with very difficult people. It will be very challenging to stop any criminal who believes that it is acceptable to treat human beings as commodities and to subject them to a lack of freedom and the appalling treatment that we hear about, and who is, no doubt, making a lot of money out of those victims. It will take an immense international effort. Currently, some 28 countries have signed the convention, but, not having your remarkable memory, Mr. Bercow, I cannot recite them all. However, the sad fact is that only six of those have actually ratified it. That is the real problem. It is very easy to sign something, but making it work is much more difficult. We have a clear action plan, and I want to focus on the progress made on its very honourable objectives, because unless we make that progress, we will not get anywhere or do anything to improve the situation. Let us remind ourselves of some of the issues that we raised in our report last year, and particularly some of the points that we feel that the Government need to take very seriously, to eliminate the trafficking of human beings. We want much greater improvement and better development in training in the identification of victims and to ensure that those identified as victims of trafficking are not treated as criminals or immigration offenders. It is extremely important to give them the confidence to come forward. We must take a much more comprehensive approach to the provision of basic support and assistance to victims upon their discovery, including financial support and accommodation. I think that we all recognise that it is very difficult for victims to come forward, and we need to give them the fullest possible support. Furthermore, we need proper public outreach and awareness through advertising and a free phone number, so that victims can self-refer and those who use prostitutes can refer women whom they think might have been trafficked. However, we need a much broader programme than that. Very often, people are unaware that they can come across victims of human trafficking in many walks of life—perhaps in cheap labour sources or the domestic labour market—and we need to raise awareness, so that citizens can provide information if they suspect that trafficking has been going on. We need to ensure that, when victims of trafficking are identified, they get proper information about their rights in the UK.