---

Human Trafficking

The debate has been characterised by a generally constructive attitude among members of all parties, and there has been a large measure of cross-party agreement. Where there has been disagreement, it has been expressed both across the Floor of the House and within political parties, but I think that all who have spoken have been united in a shared loathing of the evil practice of human trafficking, and a determination to do all that lies in our political power to bring that trade to an end. The debate was graced by no fewer than three chairmen: the hon. Member for Hendon (Mr. Dismore), Chairman of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, the right hon. Member for Leicester, East (Keith Vaz), Chairman of the Home Affairs Committee, and my hon. Friend the Member for Totnes (Mr. Steen), chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on trafficking of women and children. I think there was a consensus that the debate focused on three themes: the need to disrupt supply, the need to protect the victims, and the need to seek measures to reduce demand for trafficking. I want to say a little about each of them. It is clear to me that we need to do what we can to increase the risk to the traffickers that they will be caught and then convicted. Several Members made the point that, despite the hopeful trends announced by the Minister, the number of prosecutions and convictions, not only in the United Kingdom but in many other countries, looks incredibly low when set against the sheer scale of the problem. According to United Nations figures cited by the right hon. Member for Leicester, East, more than 1 million people are being trafficked each year, and the executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Mr. Costa, said in his most recent report that he was disappointed by the low rates of convictions for perpetrators of human trafficking. To an extent, the answer clearly lies in our doing what we can to improve the criminal law and measures of enforcement. The Minister outlined some of the measures that the Government have undertaken and continue to undertake, and my hon. Friend the Member for Ashford (Damian Green) and other Conservative Members have advocated further ideas. In particular, we have strongly urged the creation of an effective border police force for the United Kingdom. However, looking at the criminal law and policing will not be an answer in itself. As my hon. Friend the Member for Totnes pointed out, we must use diplomatic pressure as well, not least to persuade other members of the Council of Europe that they too should ratify the Council of Europe convention without further delay. We must put diplomatic pressure on countries, wherever they are in the world, that are simply failing to address the challenge posed by this evil trade with adequate energy or dedication. In its most recent report on trafficking, the US State Department lists a number of countries friendly towards the west that are among those that are failing even to enforce the duties imposed by international law and United Nations resolutions. I believe that, in the last resort, we should be prepared to follow the United States' example, which it has written into its law, and consider withholding non-humanitarian and non-trade assistance to countries that consistently fail to comply with their moral and legal obligations. In that context it is important that the Government reflect on the extent of their network of embassies and high commissions. A number of hon. Members have talked about how this trade is a particular curse for much of Africa. When I have met representatives from the embassies of north African countries, from Egypt to Morocco, they have told me how societies are being disrupted by large-scale criminal trafficking of miserable human beings brought from western and central Africa through their territories, with the traffickers wanting to move them on to Europe. There is now no British post in more than 20 African nations. I think that it is true that if we were to land in Mauritania and walk east, the first UK embassy or consulate that we would encounter would be in Khartoum. I ask the Government to reflect on whether that gap in our diplomatic coverage reflects the seriousness with which we should approach this problem today. We also need to do more to integrate the aim of reducing trafficking into our development policies. The hon. Member for Glasgow, North (Ann McKechin) said that the victims of trafficking often succumb to the temptation of traffickers out of desperation and dire poverty. My hon. Friend the Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire (Mr. Crabb) said that this is a problem that has victims worldwide, not just in the UK, so I would like our objective of disrupting trafficking to be built into our bilateral development and assistance programmes. In addition, I would like Britain to do whatever it can to ensure that the objectives of multilateral development programmes such as the International Monetary Fund's poverty reduction programmes take account of the need to reduce human trafficking. A particular challenge is facing the UK. The right hon. Member for Rotherham (Mr. MacShane) talked about how Germany saw an upsurge in trafficking in connection with the World cup in 2006. The German Government organised a comprehensive anti-trafficking initiative at that time. I hope that the British Government even now are planning what we need to do in respect of what I suspect may be similar pressures at the time of the Olympics in 2012. We would all support the Minister in planning early for that occasion. On protection for victims, I think that every Member who has spoken wants the Government to develop further the laudable initiatives that they have undertaken. One thing came through strongly from the comments by my hon. Friends the Members for Wellingborough (Mr. Bone) and for East Devon (Mr. Swire) and the hon. Member for Luton, South (Margaret Moran)—the importance of taking seriously the plight of trafficked children. The right hon. Member for Rotherham and the hon. Member for Slough (Fiona Mactaggart) argued passionately that one way to reduce demand would be to create new criminal offences to tackle the sex trade in particular. The Opposition Front-Bench team supports the review that the Minister has announced. We agree with the Home Secretary that we should look carefully at the evidence. There are questions that need to be tested in that examination, but we will approach that debate in a constructive spirit. I want to make a further point about reducing demand. I do not think that this is something to which politicians alone have the answer. When William Wilberforce was rallying British opinion against the slave trade he said that"““the nature and all the circumstances of this trade are now laid open to us; we can no longer plead ignorance, we cannot evade it””." It is true not only for Members of Parliament, but for every man and woman in this country who has eyes to see and ears to hear, that this accursed trade in men, women and children disfigures our world and that individual citizens—as consumers of products, sometimes made by people who are the victims of trafficking, and as people some of whose neighbours are customers of the sex trade—have the power to do something through their voices and their actions. Those Members who have spoken in terms of outrage and shame are not exaggerating. We are rightly accustomed in this House to sober, rational debate and to considering evidence, and we should certainly continue to look carefully at the evidence on what measures will work effectively. However, it seems to me that, in the end, we need to combine political commitment with that sense of moral outrage. I believe that political action inspired by that clear moral purpose will enable us to reduce, and I hope one day eliminate, this trade.