22 February 2023 , 17:44
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The way the Home Office treats migrant children is a "free gift to traffickers" - while its approach to missing kids shows "casual racism", two former commissioners warn in a scathing intervention.
Dame Sara Thornton and Dame Vera Baird accuse the government of victim blaming amid reports of hundreds of children disappearing from hotels housing asylum seekers.
In a powerful joint letter they asked where the outrage was about suggestions the children didn't matter because they entered the country illegally.
Dame Sara, the government's former anti-slavery commissioner, and ex-victims' commissioner Dame Vera warned that unaccompanied minors could be easy targets for sex traffickers.
The government has said that around 200 child asylum seekers are currently missing, with a majority thought to be young boys from Albania.
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The former commissioners said many are likely victims of child trafficking, stating: "It is casual racism to assume that those young victims are blameworthy because they are born male and are Albanian."
The Home Office has been criticised for housing unaccompanied children in hotels (Getty Images)Writing in The Times, Dame Sara and Dame Vera described the policy of lodging children alone in hotels "a free gift to traffickers", and added that child protection should apply to all, irrespective of where they are from.
They said: "We fear that the frequent political attacks on the credibility of slavery and trafficking victims and the alleged abuse of the modern slavery protections have created the conditions in which we are failing to protect children who are highly likely to be victims of crime."
They asked whether the UK is "so indifferent" to the plight of migrants that we accept 200 children disappearing.
The pair said that the government's position that children are being lured into dangerous Channel crossings "perfectly describes child trafficking".
They continued: “Children in the hands of traffickers are often coerced into criminal gangs and sometimes sold for sex.
Former victims' commissioner Dame Vera Baird has spoken out (Daily Express)The former commissioners have urged the Home Office to work with local authorities to come up with an alternative to putting children in hotels.
They have also said there is a need for safe and legal routes, particularly for children escaping conflict.
And Dame Sara and Dame Vera said the government must "end its disregard for the roles of the independent anti-slavery commissioner and the victims’ commissioner".
The Home Office has been contacted for comment.
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