Ring Around Rosie (22 page)

Although all the characters in this book
are fictional, Child Trafficking is most definitely not. Each one of the
characters plays a role to give you an idea of the kind of horror that
trafficking can bring, whether to a middle class white girl with a family that
cares about her, or a poor Nigerian girl whose family sold her for a few
pennies to feed themselves. Many of the characters were developed from real
life stories I read when doing my research; the age groups, the nationalities –
there is no discrimination in the world of trafficking; anyone and everyone is
a potential victim for anything from prostitution to slave labour.

When I first heard about Child Trafficking
I was shocked that such exploitation of innocent human lives was allowed to go
on. I was sure slavery had been abolished years ago, and yet here we still are,
probably sitting not too far from someone who is doing something against their
will at the hands of a much more evil and manipulative other.

Much like Ted did on the tube, I found
myself looking around more at people and trying to guess which, if any, might
have some child locked away at home cleaning the floors, or out making money
for them like Rosie and the other girls were forced to do. Of course it’s
impossible to tell, mostly because the diversity of culture, especially in our
cities, means that people can be trafficked around relatively freely without
alerting suspicion, which also makes it a very hard crime to keep track of and
stop. 

As in Lo’s case, it is very common for
children to be re-trafficked. Even if the authorities manage to rescue the
children and place them in care, they are often kidnapped again within a few
months.

I have listed a few statistics and websites
below (correct at the time of printing), where you can find out more
information if you would like to get involved with helping children like Lo,
Baduwa, Utibe, Mai-Li, Jelena, Tihana, and of course, Rosie.

Human trafficking is the second largest source of
illegal income worldwide, exceeded only by drugs. (
belser 2005
)

At least 12.3 million people are
victims of forced labour worldwide.  Of these 2.4 million are as a result
of human trafficking.
A global alliance against forced labor, International Labour Organisation,
2005

1.2 million children are trafficked
every year
Estimate by UNICEF

People trafficking is the fastest
growing means by which people are enslaved, the fastest growing international
crime, and one of the largest sources of income for organised crime.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime

Types of recruitment include
abduction, false agreement with parents, sold by parents, runaways, travel with
family, orphans sold from street or institutions. 

http://www.stopthetraffik.org/humantrafficking/problem.aspx

Human trafficking is a ‘low risk, high profit’ crime,
with annual profits of $32 billion. http://www.crin.org/docs/ChildSlaveryBrieffinal.pdf
Save the Children UK.

In 2006 there were only 5,808
prosecutions and 3,160 convictions throughout the world.
This means that
for every 800 people trafficked, only one person was convicted. (US State
Department,
Trafficking in Persons Report
(2007) p.36)

ECPAT UK stands for End Child
Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of
Children for Sexual Purposes. They are a leading children’s rights organization
campaigning against the commercial and sexual exploitation of children in the
UK and on its international aspects.
www.ecpat.org.uk

Stop the Traffik is a
global movement of individuals, communities and organisations fighting to
prevent human trafficking around the world.
www.stopthetraffik.org

I refer quite a bit to Nigeria, particularly when
mentioning the child witches. This part was also taken from true accounts I’d
read about in my research. There is a great charity set up by an English guy
who now works to try and help the children who are victims of these
atrocities. 
www.steppingstonesnigeria.org

www.emilypattullo.com