Children in slavery forced to grow drug

CHILDREN are being forced to tend cannabis factories and commit street crimes, a leading charity has warned as it raised the alarm over the hidden toll of child slavery in the UK.

The NSPCC said youngsters around the country also face sexual exploitation and punishing physical labour.

A team set up by the organisation 10 years ago to provide advice in child trafficking cases has received nearly 2,000 referrals, with babies among those reported as potential victims.

The NSPCC said the secretive nature of modernday slavery means this number is likely to be a fraction of the true scale of the problem.

Exploitation for sex or labour and domestic servitude were among the main concerns flagged up in referrals to the NSPCC’s Child Trafficking Advice Centre (CTAC).

It said Vietnamese children made up one-fifth of all those referred to the centre since it was set up, with Romanians, Nigerians and Afghans among other nationalities flagged to the service.

The NSPCC is calling for increased training among professionals, a global “best practice” approach to safeguarding of child trafficking victims to be adopted, and the creation of a single international database to boost child protection efforts.

Mandy John-Baptiste, head of the CTAC, said: “People don’t like to think about the real age of the young person they are paying for sex with, why a child might be ‘helping out’ in their nail bar, or why their cleaner or child care is so cheap. It’s an ugly truth to admit.”