A/HRC/14/30/Add.3 Counter-human trafficking and the protection of victims 28. The Sexual Offences Act 2003 established a wide range of offences of human trafficking for sexual exploitation into, within or from the United Kingdom. The Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Act 2004 prohibits human trafficking for labour exploitation and organ transplantation. Offences carry a maximum sentence of 14 years’ imprisonment. 29. In 2003, the Office for Criminal Justice Reform set up the Poppy Project, aimed at providing short-term accommodation and support to women trafficked into prostitution. Its capacity amounts to 54 bed spaces in houses and it is the only such project being implemented in the country. Only limited numbers of victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation have access to accommodation, advice and/or outreach services. Between March 2003 and August 2009, the Poppy Project helped 490 victims, including 239 by providing urgent accommodation and 251 by providing outreach assessment.31 Since April 2009, it has also provided help to victims of forced labour and domestic servitude. 30. At the time of the report, admission to the Poppy Project was assessed against three main criteria, which are age (victims should be over 18), timing (victims should have been involved in prostitution within three months of referral), and nationality (victims should have been trafficked into the United Kingdom from abroad). However, more recent information provided by the Government indicates that the three-month requirement has been dropped and that victims who have been trafficked into or within the United Kingdom are now eligible for Poppy Project support. Information received by the Special Rapporteur also suggested that, in practice, the Government considered victims’ cooperation as a requirement to accommodating them under the Poppy Project. In this connection, the Government highlighted that cooperation with the police is not a requirement for victims to receive assistance, as they must only show a willingness to enter the National Referral Mechanism. 31. In March 2007, the Government launched the UK Action Plan on Tackling Human Trafficking as a platform for developing a more strategic and holistic approach to this issue. Accordingly, the Government established the United Kingdom Human Trafficking Centre as a cooperative framework for protecting and promoting the human rights of trafficked persons and coordinating efforts with civil society.32 The centre acts as the central repository for all data and intelligence on human trafficking and is a multiagency centre composed of, inter alia, representatives from the police, UKBA, the Serious Organised Crime Agency, Crown Prosecution Service and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. 32. The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre has a child trafficking unit mandated to act as focal point for producing and disseminating information on and raising knowledge and understanding of the nature and scale of the trafficking of children in the United Kingdom, along with policy, guidance and training on the best responses to the problems identified. On the ground, children services departments are responsible for supporting and protecting children abused or with specific needs, by providing foster and/or residential care. Assessment or duty teams carry out an initial assessment and facilitate children’s access to the various specialist teams, including the team for children with disabilities, the child protection team, a family support team or a “looked after children team”. The social worker assigned to a specific case establishes a detailed core assessment of the child’s needs and then develops a plan to be followed accordingly. 31 32 GE.10-12095 Home Office, Update to the UK Action Plan on Tackling Human Trafficking, October 2009, p. 22. See “Fair, effective, transparent and trusted: rebuilding confidence in our immigration system”, p. 6. 9