Brussels, 07/07/2009 (Agence Europe) - The European Union must do more to address the issue of child trafficking, part of a modern slave trade, says a report published by the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) on Tuesday 7 July. “Every year, a significant number of children in the EU fall victim to trafficking for sexual exploitation, labour exploitation, adoption and organ extraction. These are alarming signals. We must make every possible effort to protect and support these children,” said FRA Director Morten Kjaerum. The Agency points out that there is so little information on this scourge that the full scale of the trafficking cannot be assessed. Children often disappear from shelters to be taken to unknown destinations. In 2008, 400 of the 1320 minors who arrived at the centre for refugees in Lampedusa disappeared and may have fallen victim to organ trafficking or to criminal organisations, involved particularly in sex trafficking. The FRA report proposes setting certain minimum standards for specialist shelters for trafficked children and policies to prevent disappearances. Often the victims of child trafficking are not correctly identified as victims, the FRA says. The identification of victims is crucial to prosecuting traffickers, however, it adds. Available figures indicate that there are very few convictions of traffickers in child trafficking cases. Convictions were recorded in only 4 member states between 2000 and 2007. The FRA report also identifies best practice regarding the identification of victims in Finland and in the Czech Republic. These good practices will provide the basis for the drafting and implementation of EU-wide minimum standards. In some member states, victims of child trafficking face detention for border offences and other illegal acts such as prostitution. EU legislation should, therefore, ensure minimum standards for a policy of non-punishment of victims of child trafficking, the FRA says. This, it argues, would also help increase their trust in state bodies, whilst no longer leaving victims dependent on their traffickers. The Agency urges the Council of the EU to adopt the European Commission's proposal, made in the spring of this year, on tackling human trafficking (see EUROPE 9868). (B.C./transl.rt)