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Study: 5,000 child sex slaves in UK
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23 January 2007
Save The Children's Small Hands Of Slavery says millions of youngsters are regularly attacked and raped in lives as child slaves.
Thursday is Slavery Remembrance Day, the bicentenary of the trade's abolition.
Bill Bell, Save the Children's head of protection, said: "Child slavery is not a thing of the past.
"There are still millions of children in both rich and poor countries who are being forced to lead slave-like lives under horrific conditions of humiliation and abuse.
"Currently across the world there are, for example, 1.8 million children trapped in the sex trade, over a million children risking their lives working in mines, and millions more, some as young as six, forced to work up to 15 hour days as domestic workers.
"These children are treated as commodities, liable to be lent or sold to other owners without warning.
"World leaders and international donors must act with urgency to address child slavery and put in place the laws and resources needed to eradicate these terrible practices."
The report states that 1.2 million children and babies are trafficked every year, including into Western Europe, the Americas and the Caribbean, and the number is increasing.
Gangs involved in child and people trafficking make an estimated profit of £16 billion per year, the charity said. Approximately 1.8 million children are being abused through prostitution, child pornography and sex tourism - and 75% of the UK's child prostitutes are girls.
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