Child Abuse Investigation Command (Faith - related child abuse and child trafficking)

Report: 14
Date: 12 May 2005
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report provides an overview on the steps being taken to identify and reduce faith-related child abuse. It also provides and update on activity to combat child trafficking as outlined in the report presented to this committee in November 2004, and provides an overview of current arrangements for dealing with forced marriage.

A. Recommendations

That the report be noted.

B. Supporting information

Faith-related child abuse

1. Following the death of Victoria Climbié five years ago, the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) initiated radical reform of child protection investigation services and created SCD5, within the Serious Crime Directorate (SCD), now known as the Child Abuse Investigation Command. The Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) provided much needed financial support, enabling SCD5 to conduct these reforms and develop much needed, innovative crime prevention projects.

2. Following consultation, and the inauguration of the Safeguarding Children Independent Advisory Group, SCD5 developed an initiative to work with African communities. This project was, in part, a response to a request from Victoria’s parents for the MPS to take proactive measures to reduce the cultural distance between the police (and statutory agencies) and African communities. In Victoria’s case, it was clearly the case that some members of her community were concerned about her welfare but chose not to involve the police or social services. To better safeguard vulnerable children, the resulting initiative sought to improve trust and communication between these parties.

3. The first phase of work took the form of a Community Partnership project, coordinated by SCD5, which ran between April 2004 and March 2005. Two independent Community Partnership Officers, employed on a consultancy basis, piloted work with African and Asian communities in Hackney and Newham. These officers engaged local people in debate on potentially abusive child-rearing practices, broaching a broad range of topics including female genital mutilation, forced marriage, physical chastisement and faith-related child abuse.

4. This pilot project culminated in an inter-faith conference held at Stratford Town Hall on Saturday 12 March 2005. SCD5 used the conference (in association with Newham Area Child Protection Committee) as a platform to launch and promulgate a multi-faith ‘safeguarding children’ guidance document. This document was developed by a Community Partnership Officer in conjunction with leaders from the Sikh, Muslim and Hindu faiths and will be used to help safeguard children from harm in these settings. Work is currently underway with the London Child Protection Committee to co-ordinate the production of similar guidance across London.

5. During their work with communities, the Community Partnership Officers received information that certain members of African communities, including some children, were labelled as ‘possessed’ by church leaders. This information added impetus to an existing concern, following the demise of Victoria Climbié, that children from these communities may be at particular risk of harm due a belief system that implicitly, and sometimes explicitly, condones physical means of exorcising demons. This issue was highlighted in a recent Newsnight programme on BBC2 and intelligence gleaned from this is being assessed for potential action.

6. SCD5 launched Project Violet in March 2005. Violet aims to prevent and detect ritualistic, faith-related child abuse by engaging faith communities and partners in a coordinated strategic approach.

Key elements of the SCD5 Strategy

7. SCD5 are tackling faith-related child abuse on a number of fronts under the leadership of Detective Superintendent Bourlet.

• The Safeguarding Children Development Unit is coordinating project Violet to prevent and detect ritualistic, faith-related child abuse.
• The Community Partnership Initiative is being evaluated with a view to instigating a second phase in association with the London Child Protection Committee. Current thinking is that a second phase could employ four independent Community Partnership Officers and a Co-ordinator to work with regional SCD5 Crime Prevention Officers.
• Detective Chief Inspector Angus is working directly with the London Child Protection Committee to develop a pan-London, inter-faith protocol and campaign to safeguard children in faith settings.
• The 2005 Control Strategy includes a strand to focus resources on tackling child abuse in places of worship through maximising Intelligence, Prevention and Enforcement opportunities.

Child trafficking

8. The Child Abuse Investigation Command continues to maintain a presence at London Heathrow and Lunar House, Croydon, working alongside colleagues from UK Immigration Service. Within the Specialist Crime Directorate, the debate continues as to the restructuring of the MPS response to Immigration crime and the Child Abuse Investigation Command will be taking part in a high level meeting on 16 May 2005, to debate our future response with other Commands. Furthermore, Assistant Commissioner Ghaffur and Detective Chief Superintendent Spindler have been invited to meet with Nick Baird, senior Home Office official at the end of May to discuss additional resources from UK Immigration Service.

9. Operationally, demand for the services of child protection officers continues to outstrip availability. Some 40 children have now been accommodated by social services as a result of advice and intervention by our officer at Lunar House and UK Immigration Service have identified displacement of children to the Liverpool Asylum Screening Unit where there is no police child protection presence.

10. At this stage, the three officers on the Ports Safeguarding Team are only able to provide a reactive service and any detailed investigations are beyond their resources. A business case is being prepared to seek additional officers to form a more robust response in line with the recommendations of the Paladin Child report. This has got to be fully costed and awaits input from UK Immigration Service who are key strategic partners in this matter. To date, 11 of the 26 Paladin recommendations have been implemented. Most recommendations are for government and other agencies and are therefore outside of the direct control of the MPS. The proposal is likely to include the requirement for an Detective Inspector and four Detective Constables to address a range of issues identified in the Command’s Control Strategy to safeguard travelling children and combat sex tourism.

Forced marriage

11. Forced marriage is not a crime in its own right, however, there are a number of criminal offences that are strongly associated with it such as assault, kidnapping, abductions, rape, etc. The Home Office published a new edition of guidance for police officers on how to deal with this issue in February this year, and provide a working definition of forced marriage as follows;

“A forced marriage is one where one or both parties are coerced into a marriage against their will and under duress. Duress includes both physical and emotional pressure. Forced marriage is an abuse of human rights and cannot be justified on any religious or cultural basis. It is, of course, very different from arranged marriage, where both parties give their full and free consent to the marriage. The tradition of arranged marriages has operated successfully within many communities and many countries for a very long time.”

12. The full document can also be found at the Home Office website.

13. Responsibility for forced marriage in the MPS is currently shared between DCC4, Homicide Prevention, Community Safety Units and, where victims are under 18, the Child Abuse Investigation Command. Initial negotiations as to which MPS Command takes the strategic lead for forced marriage has started however, agreement has yet to be reached.

C. Race and equality impact

1. Faith-related child abuse, Child Trafficking and Forced Marriage all have substantial equality and diversity implications. There is a risk that policing in these environments be perceived as institutionally racist as it potentially stigmatises black and minority ethnic communities. SCD5 is mitigating this risk by working directly with communities, taking regular advice from the Safeguarding Children Independent Advisory Group and working in concert with professional partners, including non-governmental organisations and pressure groups. The overall imperative is that the welfare of children comes first and that such concerns must not deflect us from this purpose. Lord Laming understood the risk that professionals might be diverted from this mission through fear of being labelled racist, and commented upon this in the Victoria Climbié Inquiry Report.

2. The SCD5 Control Strategy clearly demonstrates that resources are being targeted according to a full Strategic Assessment and that policing activities are properly directed according to need.

D. Financial implications

1. Any project violet growth bid will be subject of a business case (supported by the outcome of the pilot) to MPS Management Board at the appropriate time and also be part of the medium term financial planning process.

2. The business case for Child Trafficking has yet to be fully costed.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report authors: Detective Chief Inspector Ian Angus, Specialist Crime Directorate

For more information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

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