Camden backs Barnardo’s campaign to protect child sex victims in London

Date:   26/1/12

Camden Council is backing a campaign by children’s charity Barnardo’s to protect young victims of sexual exploitation across the capital.

On the anniversary of the Barnardo’s ‘Cut them free’ campaign, Camden has joined 17 other London boroughs in a pledge to protect vulnerable children and young people.

Barnardo’s has been working with sexually exploited children in the capital for the last 15 years, and has developed good working practice with various London boroughs.  It has also been working with London Councils, the Mayor’s office, the London Safeguarding Children’s Board, Local Safeguarding Children Boards and the Metropolitan Police. 

The charity says the crime is becoming ever more complex and pernicious and without local action children will continue to be groomed, raped and abused in towns and cities across the UK.

Barnardo’s data shows:

- the number of sexually exploited children Barnardo’s works with has grown by 8.4% to 1,190;
- the majority of grooming is in private with cases of ‘street grooming’ being rare;
- one in 10 of those exploited were boys;
- nearly half (44%) of the children have gone missing from home;
- one in six young people have been trafficked and moved from town to town and city to city, rising to one in two in some areas; and
- one in three services has seen a marked increase in peer-to-peer exploitation.
 
Camden formally pledged its support for the campaign at an event in the Council Chamber, Camden Town Hall, on Thursday 19 January.

During the pledge-signing event, local student Sophie Bird received a certificate and prize for her work in highlighting child exploitation for Anti-Slavery Day last autumn. Her prize is a visit to the BBC to see how journalists cover the news. Sophie, a student at Parliament Hill School, read her prize-winning article, called ‘Is Britain So Great?’, during the evening.

The pledge-signing event was attended by:

- Councillor Larraine Revah, Camden Council’s Cabinet Member for Children, Schools and Families, and the Leader of the Council, Councillor Nasim Ali OBE;
- leaders of the Council’s other two main political parties – Councillors Andrew Mennear (Con) and Keith Moffitt (Lib-Dem) - as well as Councillor Maya de Souza, from the Green Party;
- senior and backbench councillors from the three main political parties who are supporting the campaign; and
- representatives from Camden Police, Camden Safeguarding Children Board and senior officers from Camden’s family services and social work department.
 
Councillor Larraine Revah, Camden’s Cabinet Member for Children, Schools and Families, said: “We fully support Barnardo’s campaign to cut children free from sexual exploitation and will work with local partners to ensure that the Council takes the necessary steps to tackle the risk of this abuse. Congratulations as well to local student Sophie Bird for highlighting child exploitation in her excellent article for our competition on Anti-Slavery Day last year.”

Councillor Nasim Ali OBE, Leader of the Council, said: “This is a genuine commitment to take action to protect young people across all our communities from sexual exploitation. Sadly, children and young people continue to be abused and sexually exploited and, as a consequence, understandably suffer immense short and long term harm.

"In Camden, as elsewhere, it is not known exactly how many children are being sexually exploited. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that it is happening. As Leader, I believe it is of paramount importance that we continue to do all we can to protect children at risk. This is even more crucial in light of the Olympics coming to London this summer. Camden will therefore be much busier than usual during the Games and it is vital that we are prepared and vigilant.

"Camden Council and Barnardo’s have been successfully working in partnership for more than 12 years, providing intervention to children who are being sexually exploited.”

Libby Fry, Barnardo’s Assistant Director for Children’s Services in London, said: “Positive steps have been made in London to help vulnerable children escape a world of sexual exploitation and we welcome Camden Council’s support for our campaign.  However, we still have a long way to go in the capital to tackle this horrific crime.

“We have been actively campaigning for more help from central and local governments for these vulnerable girls and boys for a year now and we will not let it slide.

“Too many children from all walks of life can so quickly be caught up in a world of drugs, violence and sex – this is a sickening slur on our society and we must continue to work together to do all we can to end it.”

Barnardo’s is calling on all London boroughs to commit to tackling child sexual exploitation. 

There will be a campaign presence in Barnardo’s shops across the capital that are located where local councils haven’t signed up to the ‘Cut them free’ campaign.

Londoners can get involved by signing up at these shops to help persuade other local authorities to sign up.  These shops will also be displaying posters, campaign petitions and leaflets for parents on how to spot the signs of sexual exploitation.

For more information on the ‘Cut them free’ campaign, including a list of local authorities supporting the campaign, visit www.barnardos.org.uk/cutthemfree

Notes to editors:

- Child sexual exploitation includes a broad spectrum of activity from seemingly ‘consensual’ relationships or informal exchanges of sex for attention, accommodation, gifts or cigarettes through to serious, organised crime.

- The latest report ‘Cutting them free: how is the UK progressing in protecting its children from sexual exploitation?’ was published on Tuesday, 17 January. It is a sequel to 'Puppet on a String' which was published last January.

- For more information on Barnardo’s shops visit www.barnardos.org.uk/shop/shops

Ref Code:   PR 1569
Contact:
    

pressoffice@camden.gov.uk