Child slavery in the UK and abroad

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There must be cross-party action against the ongoing present day shame and nightmare of child slavery, says David Simpson MP.

Members of different political parties share the same opposition to the whole sordid reality of child slavery. We may differ on particular responses to particular examples. But Members on all sides of the House have a shared abhorrence at and opposition to the ongoing present day shame and nightmare of child slavery.

Recently Save the Children UK reaffirmed the figures of the International Labour Organization which revealed that across the world, 218 million children aged 5–17 were working as child labourers; of those children, 126 million were involved in hazardous work. Around 8.4 million of them – were trapped in the very worst forms of illegal, degrading and dangerous work.

This equates to the horrifying statistic that in the least developed countries some 30 per cent of all children are engaged in child labour. In sub-Saharan Africa alone it is estimated that there are some 49 million children involved in child labour.

It is further estimated that some 1.2 million children – both boys and girls – are trafficked every year exploited as workers in agriculture, mining, factories, armed conflict or the sex trade.

They survive in appalling conditions. They endure threats and physical and sexual violence. They are treated and traded as nothing other than a commodity by people who prey upon the poverty of their families, offering to find work for their children as a means of paying off that debt – only for the terrible reality to be revealed after it is too late.

Some are forced into the illegal sex trade, while many others are made to work in agriculture, mining, construction or as household domestic workers.

Over 1 million children are trafficked every year, either within their own country or between countries.

Here at home in the UK there are still children who are subjected to forced marriage either under the threat of violence or as a result of actual violence and shamefully there are children who are used and abused in the sex trade.

All of these children are modern day slaves. Their numbers are greater than when the old historical slave trade was at its height. Their sufferings are no less wrong, the injustices inflicted upon them are no less real and violence visited upon them is no less ghastly than those that of a bygone era.

In the struggle to abolish the old slave trade William Wilberforce said:

"If to be feelingly alive to the sufferings of my fellow creatures is to be a fanatic, I am one of the most incurable fanatics ever permitted to be at large."

I hope by this debate to provide an encouragement to MPs on all sides of the House to show the 'fanaticism' that I know is shared across the political divide on this scandal.

David Simpson was elected as DUP MP for Upper Bann, Northern Ireland in 2005. He sits on the Northern Ireland affairs select committee.