U.N. raises the alarm after hundreds of refugee children in U.K. vanish

After arriving unaccompanied in the U.K. and being placed in asylum hotels hundreds of refugee children have vanished. Many are suspected of falling prey to human traffickers while waiting for their asylum claims to be processed. U.N. inspectors are now raising the alarm and telling the new Labour government to take “all measures necessary” to protect the unaccompanied children from trafficking The National reports. 

“Seriousness of the situation” requires a warning 

In the U.K. asylum hotels are used to temporarily house refugees while they wait for their claims to be processed. Until a recent legal challenge, lone refugee children were being housed in asylum hotels and some simply disappeared. It is suspected that they may have fallen prey to human traffickers. The Home Office shared that at least 440 children had disappeared. As of last year 144 children were still missing. In May this year a scandal revealed that one 12-year-old has been missing for over a year.  

A U.N. report published after the review of the U.K.’s race and equalities record said: 

“(The U.K. must) …ensure that all unaccompanied asylum-seeking children who have gone missing are accommodated only in places covered by child protection system and effectively protect them against trafficking.“ 

It was revealed last year that traffickers are tracking mobile phones to find the lone children. They then lure them away to work using compulsion and pressure, with children as young as 11 going unaccounted for. Lawyers working on these types of cases recounted children being forced into vehicles at knifepoint. Some were threatened over debts owed by their families in their home countries. They are then made to act as drug runners, or county lines, and spotters for various types of gang-related criminal activity. 

U.K. government needs to take “all measures necessary” 

The U.N. human rights panel has told the government of the U.K. to take “all measures necessary” to protect unaccompanied children from trafficking. Towards that, the routine use of hotels to house lone refugee children has now been ruled unlawful. The newly elected Labour government has been attempting to reassure the panel. They have taken steps to remedy the situation including putting unaccompanied children in local authority care instead of hotels.  

Gun Kut, a Turkish diplomat who led the U.N. review of Britain’s race and equalities record said: 

“(UK officials have) reassured us that they are taking care of the situation…and in certain areas, the committee is satisfied, but it wants to make sure that further positive action is followed up.” 

In response, a Home Office official said they were “concerned about any child who went missing” while staying in the hotels and that they would “continue working across agencies to locate them.” The U.N. panel also highlighted the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers in the U.K. more broadly as an area of “particular importance”. Violent far-right anti-immigration riots over the summer targeted refugee centers across the U.K. The U.N. panel expressed concern about the recent escalation of “racist acts and violence against ethnic and ethno-religious minorities, migrants, refugees and asylum seekers”.  

Too little too late 

The new Labour government says it will continue working to find those refugee children who went missing from the system. But for many of these children it’s too little too late. The government’s failure to protect vulnerable children from the start has likely already led to the additional trauma of modern slavery and exploitation. Unjust laws and inhumane treatment mean refugees continue to face a heightened fear and vulnerability to modern slavery. If you haven’t already, stand with Freedom United and sign our petition demanding genuine anti-human trafficking immigration policies. Because legitimizing the inhumane treatment of anyone, regardless of their age, country of origin or immigration status, should never be allowed to pass. 

To learn more about the dangers of hostile migration policies, watch our webinar on migration politics that kill, and how governments exacerbate human trafficking.