People-trafficking gangs have been using mobile phone trackers to find refugee children staying in UK hotels and lure them away to work for them, The National has been told.
At least 400 refugee children have gone missing in recent months and one lawyer has said traffickers have even abducted children off the street at knifepoint.
The authorities in the UK are facing heavy criticism that they are failing to protect child asylum seekers, with more than 200 children – some as young as 11 – having vanished from one hotel in Brighton alone.
Officials in Manchester reported finding children in the area acting as spotters for counterfeiting and drug gangs.
Lawyer Danny Bayraktarova, who represents children who have been placed in hotels, said gangs often target their victims after learning from their home countries that they have arrived in the UK.
Once they are in the country they are placed in “terrible” conditions in which a lack of care leaves them vulnerable to traffickers, who use "sophisticated technology" such as mobile phone trackers as well as social media to find them, Ms Bayraktarova said.
“In my experience traffickers actually know where those children are located so they can go to the hotels and target those children,” she told The National.
“There would be instances where the people trafficker would know when the child would arrive. Sometimes they would track them through their mobile phones.
"It’s happened with a case of mine that traffickers tried to locate a child and intimidate him."
She added: "I have had situations in cases where a client was located on the street and forced into a vehicle, sometimes at knifepoint.”
Ms Bayraktarova, from Wilson Solicitors, explained there are various ways that traffickers can exert control over children to coerce them to work for them.
“Their parents might owe a debt to a loan shark back home. ‘I need to go and work for a gang because my family at home are in danger’ is a factor that then drives those children into the hands of traffickers," she said.
“Threats can be relentless and the traffickers can visit the family at home."
Ms Bayraktarova was speaking to The National after giving evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee, which is investigating human trafficking.
MPs also heard from Laura Duran, from children’s rights campaigners ECPAT UK, who said that trafficked children “may be recruited through social media” to work for gangs.
The Home Office has been using six hotels in the UK to house unaccompanied children who have been rescued from small boats in the English Channel.
A lack of proper supervision and care for the migrant children in these hotels means they are vulnerable to being targeted, said Ms Bayraktarova.
There are often just one or two social workers available at the hotels, and a lack of interpreting services means children struggle to get help.
Assessments often fail to identify when children are vulnerable to trafficking, she said.
“With the children in hotels there’s just not enough appropriate safeguarding for them.
“They have no educational provision, so they don’t attend college or school, so they don’t have much to do. There’s no one to organise activities so they’re left to their own devices.”
A Home Office representative said: “Due to the rise in dangerous small boat crossings, the government has had no alternative but to urgently use hotels to give unaccompanied asylum-seeking children arriving in the UK a roof over their heads.
“The wellbeing of children and minors in our care is an absolute priority and there is 24/7 security at every hotel used to accommodate them.
"When a child goes missing, a multi-agency missing persons protocol is mobilised, alongside the police and local authorities, to establish their whereabouts and ensure they are safe.”
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About Krews
Founder: Ahmed Al Qubaisi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Founded: January 2019
Number of employees: 10
Sector: Technology/Social media
Funding to date: Estimated $300,000 from Hub71 in-kind support
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Started: 2013
Founder: Ulugbek Yuldashev
Sector: e-commerce
Size: 600 plus
Stage: still in talks with VCs
Principal Investors: self-financed by founder
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What is a credit score?
In the UAE your credit score is a number generated by the Al Etihad Credit Bureau (AECB), which represents your credit worthiness – in other words, your risk of defaulting on any debt repayments. In this country, the number is between 300 and 900. A low score indicates a higher risk of default, while a high score indicates you are a lower risk.
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Financial institutions will use it to decide whether or not you are a credit risk. Those with better scores may also receive preferential interest rates or terms on products such as loans, credit cards and mortgages.
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A credit report costs Dh100 while a report with the score included costs Dh150. Those only wanting the credit score pay Dh60. VAT is payable on top.
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Key developments in maritime dispute
2000: Israel withdraws from Lebanon after nearly 30 years without an officially demarcated border. The UN establishes the Blue Line to act as the frontier.
2007: Lebanon and Cyprus define their respective exclusive economic zones to facilitate oil and gas exploration. Israel uses this to define its EEZ with Cyprus
2011: Lebanon disputes Israeli-proposed line and submits documents to UN showing different EEZ. Cyprus offers to mediate without much progress.
2018: Lebanon signs first offshore oil and gas licencing deal with consortium of France’s Total, Italy’s Eni and Russia’s Novatek.
2018-2019: US seeks to mediate between Israel and Lebanon to prevent clashes over oil and gas resources.
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Power 275hp @ 6,000rpm
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Dubai Rugby Sevens
Winners: Dubai Hurricanes
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West Asia Premiership
Winners: Bahrain
Runners up: UAE Premiership
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Runners up: Dubai Hurricanes
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Winners: Abu Dhabi Saracens
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UAE Division Two
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Tips for job-seekers
- Do not submit your application through the Easy Apply button on LinkedIn. Employers receive between 600 and 800 replies for each job advert on the platform. If you are the right fit for a job, connect to a relevant person in the company on LinkedIn and send them a direct message.
- Make sure you are an exact fit for the job advertised. If you are an HR manager with five years’ experience in retail and the job requires a similar candidate with five years’ experience in consumer, you should apply. But if you have no experience in HR, do not apply for the job.
David Mackenzie, founder of recruitment agency Mackenzie Jones Middle East
