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     News: Refuges needed to curb sex trade

    Human TraffickingJamie Doward, social affairs editor
    Sunday October 3, 2004
    The Observer

    The number of women trafficked into the UK to work in the sex trade will grow dramatically unless urgent action is taken to provide more refuges for those forced into prostitution.



    The Poppy Project in London, which offers accommodation to up to 25 former prostitutes trafficked into the country, warns today it is full and predicts that cities across the country will need to open similar centres if the problem is to be combated.

    The warning comes as an investigation in today's Observer Magazine reveals the misery of people-trafficking across Europe: thousands of women a month are being smuggled across borders and forced to work in the sex trade.

    'The project was designed to evaluate whether there was a need for these types of refuge. It has only been running for a year, but already it is clear that a lot more needs to be done,' said Michelle Hinds, a spokeswoman for the Poppy Project.

    'It's crucial that all governments, including the UK's, offers sufficient protection for people who have been trafficked,' said Beth Herzfeld, a spokeswoman at Anti-Slavery International, which is campaigning for a more proactive line against people-trafficking.

    There are plans to open a second refuge in Glasgow, but despite this Hinds warned there will still be a 'vacuum' across most of Britain.

    'The women we help are supposed to stay for a maximum of 16 weeks, but they often stay longer. There is no where else for them to go. We try to get them housing, but there's a dire shortage of stock,' Hinds said.

    The clandestine nature of the problem makes it difficult to put a figure on the number of women being trafficked. However, a Home Office report estimated that up to 1,420 women and children were smuggled into the UK in 2000.

    Campaigners say refuges are vital if the trafficking cycle is ever to be broken.

    Last week representatives from the 45 member states of the Council of Europe met to discuss plans to combat the problem of people-trafficking. The council is preparing to draw up a convention that will oblige states to protect the rights of trafficked people.



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