ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center
SOURCE: London Evening Standard
10February2011 2:08pmEST
GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: THE OLYMPICS will make London a "magnet" for human trafficking unless ministers launch an urgent crackdown, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper warned today.
Criminal gangs will use next year's Games to force women and girls into the sex trade and push men into forced labour, Ms Cooper said.
She called on the Government to learn the lessons of the Athens Games in 2004, saying the number of human trafficking victims doubled due to poor prevention efforts.
In a speech to the Stopping Traffick conference, she said: "There are fears that the London 2012 Olympics could increase the trafficking of vulnerable people into the UK.
"Studies worldwide show that international sporting events, where people move across borders, are used by criminals under the cover of tourism to exploit women and children. The Government must wake up to the risk that traffickers will seek to profit from the 2012 Games and take action to make sure this event does not make the situation worse." (read full report)
