Human Trafficking
The final item of business is a members' business debate on motion S3M-1444, in the name of Gil Paterson, on the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament recognises that 23 March 2008 marks the first anniversary of the United Kingdom's signing of the Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings; notes that this convention is yet to be ratified in order to enshrine the rights of victims of trafficking in domestic law; further notes that there are substantial responsibilities for the Scottish Government under this convention, including the identification of trafficking victims in line with services to victims of trafficking, the investigation and prosecution of trafficking and the non-prosecution of crimes that trafficking victims have been coerced into; believes that a lead should be taken in the UK on the implementation of the parts of the convention for which it has responsibility, and considers that all measures should be taken to stop this modern-day form of slavery.
The debate gives us the opportunity to recognise the anniversary of the signing by the United Kingdom of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings—ECAT. I would have been delighted to be able to say that it is a celebration of the ratification of the convention but, sadly, that has not yet happened. When it is ratified, the convention will ensure that the rights of victims of trafficking are upheld in domestic law. Although the issue is not in the Scottish Government's jurisdiction, I want the Parliament and the Scottish Government to be as one and to use any influence that we have to put the strongest case to the UK Government that action is needed to bring the effects of the convention into play and to say that we would support the measures that are needed to ensure that the convention is ratified.
I pay tribute to Amnesty International for its consistent and diligent work in raising awareness of human trafficking. Amnesty has concerns about the identification of victims of trafficking in Scotland. That is currently police led and there is no formal procedure for consulting non-governmental organisations and other agencies as per international best practice. For a number of reasons, victims of trafficking are unlikely to disclose what has happened to police officers or immigration officials. Those reasons include threats from traffickers; shame and guilt about having been involved in commercial sexual exploitation; concern about insecure immigration status; fear of corruption among home state officials; and the fact that victims may be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
When a brothel is raided, in many cases the people who are arrested are people who have been trafficked. Some have entered the country with legal documents on the promise of legitimate work. Unfortunately, they have been tricked and forced into the sex trade by violence and confinement, and their documents have been substituted by false ones. These are people who are unable to speak English and who, although they have been brutalised and scared out of their wits, are illegal immigrants due to fake planted documents and are likely to be deported. When they reach their home country, the threats of the traffickers become a reality and they may find themselves in trouble with their home authorities.
We need support services that are trusted by those who are trafficked. The victims need time to come to terms with their situation if they are to become good witnesses or to have their needs assessed. NGOs that are working in the field pick up information from the street and can play a significant role in many ways. They can pick up information to identify traffickers and assist with the recovery of victims by providing the varied and expert support that is essential if we are going to make a difference.
Article 10 of ECAT requires trained officials to identify and help victims, including referring them to support organisations and issuing them with residence permits where eligible. Article 10 also requires that if a person is reasonably suspected of being trafficked, they should not be removed until the identification process is complete, and in the meantime they should receive appropriate support and accommodation.
Article 12 of ECAT requires member states to provide such measures
"as may be necessary to assist victims in their physical, psychological and social recovery."
As a minimum, those measures should include a standard of living necessary for subsistence, including
"appropriate and secure accommodation, psychological and material assistance; access to emergency medical treatment;
information on rights; access to an interpreter and legal advice; and
"access to education for children."
I would like the Scottish Government to support the call for the reflection period for the victims of trafficking to be extended from 30 days to at least 90 days to allow victims to access adequate care services. Although this is a reserved matter, I want the Scottish Government to engage with the Home Office, as the previous Administration did in the first place, and urge the UK Government to sign the convention. We can then move forward positively.
Human trafficking—or, should I say, slavery—comes in many different forms: women for the sex trade; manual workers; farm workers; child pickpockets; and children who are to be sexually abused. According to evidence that was given to the House of Commons, someone was even trafficked into the fishing industry in Scotland.
The United Nations estimates that between 700,000 and 4 million women and children are victims of trafficking. There is a well-connected worldwide criminal network behind it, and it is often associated with other criminal activities. It is a professional and formidable force that has a business worth of $10 billion.
Trafficking is on the rise in Scotland and the UK. We need to get organised in Scotland, the UK and Europe and at UN level. As trafficking has no borders, international action is necessary.
Friends, we can do our bit. This evening's debate is the next step in bringing the issue to public attention and in seeking the Parliament's support for encouraging the Scottish Government to engage with the UK Government to bring about the ratification of the convention. I believe that we are pushing at an open door—let us all walk through that door together.
We move to the open debate. As a large number of members wish to speak, I ask for speeches of no more than four minutes.
Gil Paterson is to be thanked for bringing the motion to the Parliament.
The trafficking of human beings from some of the most impoverished countries in the world is sickening. Thousands of defenceless women, young girls and young men have been trafficked into the United Kingdom on the promise of jobs and a better life, but the reality is that they find themselves experiencing the most horrendous emotional, physical and mental abuse. They are frightened, beaten, intimidated and sexually exploited. In other words, they are raped—there is no other way of describing what happens to them. Other people are trafficked to be used as domestic servants or as forced labour, and we have heard examples of marriage being used as a mechanism for trafficking.
As Gil Paterson said, the international trafficking of human beings is big business. It is the third-largest money earner in the criminal world after drugs and weapon smuggling. Women were trafficked for the men who attended the football games at the world cup in Germany, and we should be aware of that vis-à-vis the coming Commonwealth games.
The motion calls for the rights of victims of trafficking to be enshrined in domestic law. That is the least that we can do. If victims manage to escape, they should not be immediately deported. If they give evidence in court, they should be treated as vulnerable witnesses. Help must be given to those voluntary organisations that are charged with encouraging trafficked human beings to speak up, because fear of deportation prevents some victims from accessing services and support. As Gil Paterson said, victims of trafficking need time, during which support and health and legal services can be provided.
Amnesty International tells us that it has significant concerns that, without the provision of adequate systems of support, victims will be regarded as illegal immigrants and will be deported, in which case they run a significant risk of being retrafficked.
The exploitation of human beings, in a culture that is alien to them and in a language that they barely understand, whereby they are used as sex objects should cause everyone in the Parliament to demand the ratification of the Council of Europe convention, at the very least.
We should challenge the Scottish Executive to lead the way by providing the necessary support networks for victims, thereby demonstrating our abhorrence of this evil trade. Those networks should be formally linked to identification and referral procedures. The Executive should support the training of front-line workers and the sharing of best practice, such as the trafficking awareness-raising alliance—or TARA—project in Glasgow.
The motion is correct to ask that the convention be ratified. What representations on ratification has the minister made to the responsible minister in the UK Government? If he has made no such representations, why has he not done so?
As MSPs, we must demonstrate to victims of trafficking that their contemptible clients are not representative of the Scottish people, and that the overwhelming majority of Scots offer genuine support and the hand of friendship to those who have been brought to our country on a false premise. They deserve nothing less.
I thank Gil Paterson for securing a debate on a matter of considerable importance.
I think that all members rejoice in internationalism but, as with everything else in life, with the gain sometimes comes the pain. With internationalism has come people trafficking, and there is no doubt that some of the people who suffer that pain are among society's most vulnerable.
As Gil Paterson said, trafficking comes in many shapes and forms. Sometimes it is to do with basic good intentions, for example when a child is trafficked for adoption by a childless couple who want to give a child a home—that is technically trafficking. Sometimes people are trafficked for the sordid sex trade, as Trish Godman pointed out. At other times, people are trafficked to be used in labour gangs.
When we consider the effects of trafficking on its victims, it is clear that trafficking is one of the more contemptible examples of human criminal behaviour. Children are trafficked purely as tools for the obtaining of child benefit, which is unacceptable. Young women are trafficked for sexual purposes. Sometimes women are deprived of their passports and beaten and starved, to provide gratification for some of society's more primordial human beings.
What can we do for victims of trafficking? We must do everything possible to ensure that the people who are responsible are brought to justice. The operation of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency is becoming more and more sophisticated, so we can probably find out many of the people who are responsible for trafficking in Scotland and the UK. However, trafficking is international and many or most of the people who are involved in the trade operate in the country of origin of the victims. Given that many people are trafficked from third-world countries, it can be difficult to get to the bottom of the problem. We should demand a wider and more enthusiastic international response and greater co-operation, which has been sadly lacking in some instances.
People have been rescued in significant cases in the UK. How do we support victims of trafficking when we discover them? We must support such people. In some instances it might be best if they go home immediately. We must listen to what they want. If they are needed to help with a prosecution, we must ensure that they are kept in circumstances that offer the security and protection that they need. If they want to go home, we must let them do so. Above all, we must demonstrate to victims the humanity that was sadly lacking in the people who brought them to the state in which we found them, and we must ensure that there is a level of international co-operation that can put an end to this vile trade.
I congratulate Gil Paterson on securing the debate, in which I am pleased to speak. I was, in September 2000, the first member of the Scottish Parliament to lodge a motion on human trafficking, and I moved the motion on Scottish National Party policy on trafficking at our annual conference. Since 2000, 23 members from five political parties have lodged motions in the Scottish Parliament on human trafficking, which demonstrates the strength of feeling on the issue. Trish Godman secured a members' business debate on the matter two years ago.
Trafficking is a vile worldwide phenomenon that affects men and boys as well as women and girls, although women are most likely to be exploited through trafficking. Victims can be trafficked for a range of exploitative purposes and children are particularly vulnerable.
The Scottish Government has substantial responsibilities under ECAT, given Scotland's distinctive care and justice systems.
The internationally recognised definition of child trafficking is children being transported for purposes of exploitation within or across national boundaries. The definition includes situations in which children have consented voluntarily to travel, but were exploited on arrival. That happens frequently with adults, too.
Trafficking in human beings is not only a crime but a fundamental violation of the most basic human rights. Exploitation varies according to age, gender or race. Examples include domestic servitude, restaurant and catering labour, benefit fraud, as well as sexual exploitation and underage forced marriage.
Trafficked children are at risk of losing even their identity because traffickers often destroy their papers and change their names. During the journey, unsafe transportation places children at risk of death or injury. On arrival, they are likely to experience violence, abuse and dangerous working conditions that are harmful to their health and wellbeing.
Correct identification and referral of victims to appropriate services lies at the heart of any system to protect trafficked persons. Under ECAT—when it is ratified—identification by competent authorities will act as a passport to a range of rights that are intended to help a trafficked person to escape from the influence of traffickers and to begin a process of recovery through access to health care, support, accommodation and legal advice. Conversely, failure to be identified will lead to a denial of basic support. In the case of people with irregular immigration status, it could also lead to immigration detention, criminalisation and the removal to the country of origin without any assessment of the risk of harm or retrafficking on return.
When trafficked persons who are reasonably suspected of having been subjected to sexual violence or sexual exploitation are interviewed to establish identification, they should be entitled to the same best-practice procedures from the police to which other victims of rape and sexual violence are entitled. For example, female victims should be interviewed only by female officers.
The physical and psychological health needs and safety requirements of trafficked victims are extensive. A study was carried out at a London university into the physical and psychological health of women who had been trafficked into forced prostitution or sexual exploitation in the context of forced domestic work. It found that the women suffered numerous physical and mental health problems and that their psychological reactions were severe and prevalent, and compared to or surpassed the symptoms that have been recorded for torture victims. The symptoms included feelings of suicide, depression, hopelessness and extreme anxiety.
Today's debate gives Parliament an opportunity to make a statement to Scotland, the rest of the United Kingdom, Europe and the wider world that the people of Scotland will not tolerate the trafficking of women, children and young men in our society. We must stamp out trafficking. Working together, we can do that.
It is a pleasure to contribute to the debate. I congratulate Gil Paterson on his success in securing it.
There is no doubt that international trafficking impacts on us directly, or indirectly, whether we live in Scotland or anywhere else in Europe. Even in the most peripheral of ways, we can find ourselves involved in trafficking. One example is the chocolate that we eat. According to a churches council, cocoa pickers are often victims of trafficking. They are the victims—albeit indirectly—of our obsession and hunger for chocolate. Trafficking can impact on us in a number of ways.
I turn to the impact of trafficking on children. I look forward to hearing the Minister for Community Safety's response to the debate and hope that he will support the removal of the UK reservation to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. That would go some way towards protecting trafficked children.
The Government should seek to develop a national reporting facility for children whose arrival into or departure from Scotland is unusual or suspicious. Such a facility would allow us to monitor those movements, which we cannot do at present. Like other members, I would like to see the Government do as much as it can to work with the UK Government to ensure ratification of ECAT by the end of 2008.
Most of us, fortunately, will not come into direct contact with trafficking. I have the dubious honour—if that is the word—of being one who has come into direct contact with it. I will recount the experience. Seven years ago, I was working in Kosovo as part of the United Nations group that supervised the elections. We sat at a border within Kosovo waiting to be checked through by national security guards, who were dealing with a vehicle in front of us. It was a fairly ordinary battered vehicle—there was nothing special about it. It was the sort of van that one would see every day. As we sat somewhat nervously waiting to go through, they opened the back of the vehicle and there were 40 women in the back of it. They were not quite stacked horizontally, but they were pretty close to it. It transpired that they had been persuaded to go with the traffickers by the promise of employment in western Europe.
The women were malnourished. Having come from an area of poverty in eastern Europe, they were desperate for the opportunity to work legitimately. On that promise, they had given up their rights as human beings, and in many cases had paid substantial amounts of money for the privilege of travelling who knows how many miles in the back of a closed van with no food, water or hygiene facilities.
We need to do as much as we can as a country—whether it happens within our own borders or internationally—to bring this horrendous trade to an end. The more we speak about it, the more our voices will be heard. In closing, I congratulate Gil Paterson once again on bringing the matter to Parliament for debate.
I do not want to repeat what other members have said, but I, too, congratulate Gil Paterson, who has a long track record of taking up the issue, along with Trish Godman, Sandra White and others in the chamber and outwith it. The issue, indeed, crosses all party politics.
As has been said, we tend to focus on women and sexual exploitation. By all means let us do that—it is appalling and a living nightmare—but we should remember that trafficking also involves young boys and men. What concerns me is the lack of data. We know that the reason for that is the inability to identify the people who are affected. Kenny Gibson said that it is mainly women who are affected—that might be the case but, to be frank, we do not know. I could not say at this moment how many children have been trafficked into Scotland, what they are being used for, how many men have been trafficked, how many boys or how many women. This is a first stage and this must cross boundaries.
I agree with Bill Aitken about international co-operation, but I was concerned to read in the papers that were provided to us by Amnesty International that there are some countries on a white list to which, for example, women who have been trafficked and sexually exploited are sent back without question—places such as Moldova and Albania. They are immediately in a worse position with the gangs because they have spoken out and broken ranks. They are brought back and their penalty is even greater. That situation is appalling and we must deal with it.
Questions have been asked about how the police system deals with women who have been trafficked and sexually exploited. I believe that they require even more compassion and help—if it is possible to say that—than other female victims. The situation is compounded, perhaps, with language difficulties, fear of further prosecution and a lack of a sense of security. These people cannot feel secure at all.
Kenny Gibson is right that access to health care, support and accommodation is a major issue. Again, I have concerns about the number of children who may be in need of support systems but about whom we simply do not know.
I am quite persuaded by the recommendations from Amnesty International. I suggest that we first set about collecting data to identify who the various people are—young and old. Thereafter, we can start to expose the size of the problem, reach out to the people concerned and provide them with security and compassion. We should change our relationship with other nations so that people are not sent back to where they were trafficked from, which can sometimes be the case. We should give them additional health care, and we should show that Scotland is a compassionate country that will have none of this evil trade.
I welcome this debate and, like Trish Godman and other members, I recognise the work that Gil Paterson has done on the subject, and on the issue of male violence against women generally.
The anniversary of the UK Government signing the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings is to be welcomed. I am sure that we are all pleased that the UK Government has confirmed that it will ratify the convention by the end of the year.
Trafficking in people is a vile crime. Sex trafficking—the forced and organised rape of women—is unfortunately a worldwide phenomenon, and it should therefore have a high political priority for the UK Government and the Scottish Government. Human trafficking is a crime involving the exploitation of people, and high numbers of women and children are involved. Essentially, it is organised crime. The people who are responsible for organising people trafficking are the same people who are making money through other criminal networks, including drug trafficking, money laundering and other serious crimes. It is about greed and profit.
Sex trafficking is the aspect that I have studied the most, although I understand that trafficking is much wider than that. According to research in Russia, 20 per cent of labour migrants in that country could be defined as victims of trafficking, which is a shocking figure. Sex trafficking is characterised by extreme forms of abuse, violence and cruelty, and the women are bonded, because their families could get hurt if they report the crime to the authorities. The crime is highly organised, so it is difficult to secure prosecutions. It is also difficult to identify the numbers of people involved, given the complexity of prosecuting the crime.
The police initiative operation pentameter has demonstrated that trafficking is a real crime. It revealed the trafficking of 84 women, 12 of whom were minors. The operation threw up the requirement for a complex support network, which Gil Paterson discussed, including a need to provide language support for women who have been trafficked from other countries. We need them to make clear statements about what happened to them, but because of their fear of reprisal that is the most difficult aspect of the problem. I support Gil Paterson's call for an extension of the period in which we can establish those important facts.
I declare my membership of Routes Out of Prostitution. Much work needs to be done to recognise the harm that is done to women by forced prostitution through bonding and coercion. As far as I am concerned, on the same spectrum are women who are forced into prostitution through drug addiction or through their life circumstances, because they, too, face significant mental and physical harm.
If we are to tackle forced prostitution and human trafficking seriously, we need to examine the root of the problem. The demands of many men for young women and girls to have sex with cannot be ignored. Glasgow City Council has done quite a bit of work with the Swedish authorities, which have shown that their model of legislation, which involves a complete ban on the sale of sex, has virtually eradicated human trafficking. We cannot ignore that model. We should look to it with interest.
We should be proud of the trafficking project in my constituency, which has a 35-bed unit and has helped at least 17 trafficked women. It is an example of best practice in the UK. It is the only dedicated project outwith London, and we should be proud of it. However, it needs to be resourced, and its work needs to be rolled out more widely.
This has been a useful debate, and I thank Gil Paterson once again for bringing the subject to the chamber.
Trafficking is inhuman, abhorrent, vile and knows no boundaries, and we must do what we can to eradicate it. I well remember the events in Germany that Trish Godman mentioned. However, not only were women trafficked in, but tents were erected to house them, which was absolutely ridiculous. Along with other people, I wrote to the German Government to express our concerns about and abhorrence of the practice.
Trish Godman mentioned Glasgow 2014. I do not think that the problem that she discussed will happen in relation to the Commonwealth games, but we must be vigilant to ensure that it does not.
I join others in congratulating Gil Paterson on securing this debate and commend him for his continued fight against sexual exploitation and violence against women, of which trafficking is one of the most horrendous examples.
Gil Paterson highlighted the failure of the Westminster Government to ratify the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, and pointed out what that means for the victims of trafficking. Pauline McNeill said that she looks forward to the Government ratifying the convention at the end of the year. However, I hope that Pauline McNeill and others from all parties will join Gil Paterson and me in asking the minister to ensure that UK Government ministers bring ratification forward. The convention has been unsigned for years, and I would prefer it to be signed tomorrow or next week, rather than at the end of the year. The victims of trafficking are suffering because the convention has not been ratified. We must give those victims representation at the highest level to ensure that they are safe and secure and come under the jurisdiction of the law of the country that they have been trafficked into.
Like Pauline McNeill, I support operation pentameter, which brings together police forces in the battle against trafficking. I thought it was an absolutely fantastic idea when I heard about it. However, as members have said, there are on-going concerns about the identification of trafficking victims and the workings of the national referral mechanism. I ask the minister to examine those issues, which have been well explained by other members.
I congratulate the TARA project in Glasgow, which is the only dedicated trafficking project in Scotland. I also congratulate the Scottish Government on its on-going support for that project, which has been acknowledged by Amnesty International. However, I would like the minister, in conjunction with the workers and volunteers of the TARA project, to examine the criteria under which the project operates, as they mean that support can be given only to women who are over 18 and have been sexually exploited in the UK, which leaves out children, men and those who have been sexually exploited outside the UK.
Human trafficking can involve sexual exploitation, sexual torture, and a variety of other aspects, such as people picking cockles. We thought that we had ended slavery, and we were proud of that. However, now we have another form of slavery, and we must do our best to eradicate it.
I thank Gil Paterson for bringing this matter to the attention of the chamber.
I share the abhorrence of human trafficking that members have referred to. However, I think that, although getting the UK Government to sign the convention on action against trafficking will do no harm, it will not do all that much good, either. As Christine Grahame said in her excellent speech, we do not know the size of the problem that we are dealing with, which means that we do not know how to deal with it or what resources must be committed to it.
I suggest that the first step must involve prevention, if at all possible. Therefore, any resources that are to be devoted to the fight against trafficking should be spent in the countries from which people are trafficked. I would like there to be an imaginative information and warning programme in Bulgaria, Romania, Poland, the Baltic states and throughout the countries of eastern Europe from which people have come—some legitimately and others because they have been trafficked.
I mention legitimate means because—some people will not want to hear this—not all those involved are the victims that Trish Godman and Gil Paterson mentioned. Sex workers, who are already employed in selling sexual services, are also migrating here from eastern Europe. How are they to be treated and evaluated if they are picked up in a brothel? Are they to be treated in exactly the same way as underage girls who have been trafficked against their will and told that they would get a job as a nanny? As a result of our abhorrence of trafficking, we overlook some of the harsh realities that anyone making a policy must deal with. I go back to prevention being better than cure, certainly in the first instance until we have a much better idea of the size and definition of the problem that we are dealing with.
Members have mentioned the TARA project. I am delighted to know that there is such a project, but we require better information about outcomes from that project than we have received from, for example, Routes Out of Prostitution. I pay tribute to Pauline McNeill's work in that organisation, but we do not have the information that we should have after the years for which it has operated. I hope that we have learned the lesson and will apply it to the TARA project.
It is all very well to talk about the support that people deserve if they find themselves in the position of being a trafficked prostitute, but are we willing to commit resources to the issue? We have not been willing to commit the resources to prostitutes who were not trafficked but have ended up on the streets in this country because of drugs, family breakdown and the litany of disasters of which members are well aware. Let us not put the cart before the horse. We should first try to identify what the problem is and we can then start to look for a solution.
I join other members in congratulating Gil Paterson on giving us the opportunity to debate human trafficking. As members from all round the chamber have said, he has a long record in campaigning against violence against women.
I endorse the comments made by many members who have thought equally hard and long on these matters. Trish Godman secured a debate on human trafficking in May 2006, and Kenneth Gibson was first to the crease, as it were, back in 2000. Many members have campaigned vigorously on the issue over a long period.
"Victims of trafficking, who are among the most marginalised groups in society, experience the most horrendous emotional, physical, mental and sexual abuse. I am glad to have an opportunity to reaffirm our view"—
in the Government—
"that trafficking is intolerable and that those who perpetrate it should be dealt with severely.—[Official Report, 25 May 2006; c 26123.]
The former Minister for Communities, Malcolm Chisholm, uttered those words back in May 2006. It would be difficult to better them. We all share the sentiments that he expressed.
The motion is right to equate trafficking with modern-day slavery. It is a vile and abhorrent practice that is difficult for many of us to conceive of and which has no place in a civilised society. I am therefore pleased to acknowledge the Home Secretary's announcement in January that the UK will ratify the Council of Europe's convention this year. That is a step forward and we are working to ensure that all the necessary arrangements in Scotland are put in place to support ratification.
It might be helpful if I say a word about that process, because some members, including Gil Paterson and Pauline McNeill, have urged ratification of the convention. As I understand it, the practice in the UK is that there is a two-part process. The convention is first supported in principle and then ratified. Other countries go straight to ratification, but I am advised that the reason for the two-step process in the UK is that ratification is a process that follows compliance of the law and compliance of practice. Therefore, if the law needs to be changed—as I understand it does in relation to immigration—we must recognise that that process has to be undertaken. It is a sensible process that, like all others, must be thought out carefully and will take time.
Far be it from me to defend the UK Government—I am not sure that it would assign that role to me—but we can all recognise that there is a reason why ratification has not been carried out. I think that it was Margo MacDonald who said that ratification would not in itself significantly advance matters. The question is what action should be taken in Scotland, particularly with regard to those matters for which we as a Government are responsible.
We are working closely with the UK Government to ensure that action is co-ordinated at a UK level. That work is underpinned by the Scottish Government's representation on the UK interdepartmental ministerial group on human trafficking and by the joint Scottish-Home Office action plan that was published last year on the day on which the UK signed the convention. The action plan sets out 60 measures that will be delivered in the four key areas of enforcement, prevention, victim support and child trafficking.
The action plan was reinforced by the launch in October 2007 of the police operation pentameter 2, which will run to the end of this month and which was mentioned by various members, including Sandra White. Intelligence from pentameter 2 is already further developing understanding of the nature and scale of trafficking in Scotland and its links to trafficking elsewhere in the UK and abroad. The evaluation of the operation at a Scottish and UK level will help us to respond more accurately to the threat posed by trafficking.
Many members—notably Christine Grahame and Margo MacDonald, who spoke at the end of the debate—referred to the lack of data. By its nature, human trafficking is a trade, a crime and an activity that is carried out in a clandestine way, so it is difficult to obtain reliable data. However, the lack of evidence that trafficking is taking place does not mean that it is not taking place, and we must proceed on the basis that it is.
The Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, in collaboration with other law enforcement partners, has been tasked with producing a comprehensive intelligence picture of the extent and impact of human trafficking in Scotland. I have had the pleasure of working with Gordon Meldrum, the new chief of the SCDEA, and I know that he is bringing immense vigour and focus to his duties.
I want to address two of Hugh O'Donnell's comments, the first of which was on the removal of the UK reservation to the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child. I understand that the Home Secretary has announced that the UK will reconsider the reservation. Secondly, on a national reporting system, the current proposal is for a UK rapporteur. I would be happy to consider those matters further with Mr O'Donnell.
We have recently provided increased funding to the trafficking awareness-raising alliance in Glasgow, to which many members have referred. The project provides specialist support to adult females who have been trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Members have mentioned the extension of the reflection period from 30 to 90 days. I undertake to convey the Official Report of this debate to the Home Secretary so that we can give further and careful consideration to that matter.
A key commitment in the "UK Action Plan on Tackling Human Trafficking" is to provide targeted guidance to meet the needs of children. The Scottish Government has circulated a model protocol, which will be issued for consultation shortly.
I thank all members for their contributions, which have been sincere, heartfelt and passionate. I hope that we can work together towards the eradication of such a vile and abominable trade.
Meeting closed at 17:59.