Clause 4 - Trafficking people for exploitation
Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Bill
4:45 pm
Mrs Angela Watkinson (Upminster, Conservative)
I rise to speak to amendment No. 20, which stands in my name and that of my hon. Friend the Member for Woking, whose return to the Committee has, most unfortunately, been delayed. I say unfortunately, because he is not only a lawyer but has long-standing and acknowledged experience of this subject.
The amendment is designed to widen the protection for children in a similar way to amendment No. 1. It would widen the protection by including the purposes of prostitution—that is encompassed in the word ''assault'' in the second line—enslavement and forced labour. One hears from time to time of cases in which young people are brought to this country for the purposes of being household servants and are virtually imprisoned—they have no control over their own lives. The amendment refers in particular to ''illegal adoption''. We all recognise what a sensitive and important subject adoption is. It is treated with extreme care in this country and needs to be encompassed in the meaning of the clause.
There have also been accounts—happily only rarely—of the ritual killing of young children in this country, so it is important that we try to include in the Bill every possible eventuality, so that young children are afforded the widest possible protection.