Campaign highlights child exploitation
Independent youth crime charity Fearless. org has teamed up with Barnardo’s Scotland in a campaign to highlight child criminal exploitation in Renfrewshire.
The organisations want to encourage young people to come forward if they are victims or have important information.
The drive will feature real-life anonymised case studies from Barnardo’s Scotland, which runs family support group Barnardo’s Threads in Paisley, and Fearless has created a series of hard-hitting digital animations that will premiere on social media sites, Snapchat and Instagram.
The short clips tell the stories of three young people who were exploited and forced to commit crime, like Maya who moved out of her family home to live with an older‘boyfriend’aged around 30, it was at that point that she was introduced to heroin.
The man was known to police for domestic violence, shoplifting and violence including knife crime.
The 30 year-old introduced her to another adult male aged around 50.
They sexually exploited her in exchange for substances, and violently assaulted her. They locked the young person in the address of the 30 year old over a period of time too.
Lyndsay McDade, national youth projects coordinator for the charity Crimestoppers, said:“During the pandemic, there has been a marked increase in child sexual exploitation, particularly online.
“Whilst it’s difficult to predict how the easing of lockdown will affect child safety and criminality – our learning from last year shows a pattern of increased forms of other exploitation types such as county lines and organised shoplifting when travel can happen more freely again.
“Therefore, this campaign aims to equip young people with a greater understanding of the dangers of criminal exploitation in order to reduce the massive harm that it causes to young people in Scotland every day.
“If you know or suspect who is hurting or exploiting a child or young person, I urge you to speak up to our charity through our website Fearless.org.
“We guarantee you’ll stay 100 per cent anonymous.
“We can’t trace IP addresses or any contact details that could identify you.
“Nobody will ever know the information came from you – but your information could save a child or young person’s life.”
Daljeet Dagon, national programme manager for Barnardo’s Scotland, said: “The criminal exploitation of children and young people is not new, however, its visibility and prevalence is creating concern in both urban and rural areas across Scotland.
“If we are to effectively respond to children and young people at most risk of being exploited we need to be better at identifying child criminal exploitation (CCE), disrupting perpetrators who prey on the young and vulnerable and protect children and young people who are victims of this crime.
“As we come out of lockdown and young people become more visible we urge everyone to be vigilant, be aware of the signs of exploitation and report any activity which you think is putting a child or young person at risk to Fearless.org”
If any young person feels like they are being forced to do things against their will, this is exploitation and the charities strongly urge you to speak to a trusted adult or contact Childline on 0800 1111.
In an emergency always call 999.