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Human Trafficking

This has been an informative and educative debate. In the few minutes that I have, I want to concentrate on the most vulnerable in society, about whom we have heard so much this afternoon—the children. According to the US State Department, 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders each year. Approximately 50 per cent. of them are minors. In a world that is opening up so fast, the challenge is how to control and monitor who is travelling where, when and why, and often whom they are travelling with. That is why I believe firmly that a co-ordinated border policy, starting with our airlines and airports, as well as gold-plated ratification of the Council of Europe's convention on action against trafficking in human beings, offers our best hope to end the trafficking of children into the United Kingdom. Children are trafficked into the UK using many different forms of transport, but I want to focus on the airlines. As the Minister will know, no data are available regarding the percentage of children trafficked into the UK via airlines because there is no central data collection on children trafficked into the UK. However, it is known that children are trafficked into the UK and are arriving at airports across the country, including at smaller regional airports frequented by budget airlines. There are no global standards or regulations related to the age at which a child can travel alone by air transport. Airlines vary enormously in their standards. For example, Virgin, which sets a good standard, insists that children between the ages of five and 15 must be registered in advance of travel for the unaccompanied minor service, or be accompanied by someone aged 16 or over. Children above 16 can travel alone. Children can travel alone with easyJet from the age of 14, with British Airways from the age of 12 and, amazingly, from the age of just four with Air France. To protect children and to prevent trafficking, there must be checks and balances at every point in the journey—from pre-check-in until immigration services on arrival. The airlines themselves have an important part to play, yet it is my understanding that they have not been involved in policy development to any degree. I would be interested to hear from the Minister if that is the case and if so how he intends to rectify what is clearly a serious oversight.