Government launches plan to tackle commercial exploitation of children

Ministers have launched a national plan for tackling commercial
child sexual exploitation.

The National Plan for Safeguarding Children for Commercial
Sexual Exploitation outlines what the government and agencies are
doing to protect children globally from being drawn into
prostitution, sex tourism, pornography and exploitation over the
internet.

Published jointly by the department of health and the home
office, the plan says government efforts are concentrating on three
key areas: ensuring that guidance to protect children from being
involved in prostitution is being implemented; promoting guidance
on the safe use of the internet to parents, schools and children;
and fostering international co-operation to assess the scale of,
and combat, the sexual exploitation of children.

Health minister Jacqui Smith said the task of safeguarding
children was continuous, and the plan would be developed year on
year to ensure that it continued to focus on priorities for
action.

“We all have a duty to protect these children and must do
everything in our power to remove those who gain from their
exploitation,” she said.

Chris Atkinson, policy advisor on child protection at the NSPCC,
welcomed the national plan, but said its priorities for future
action needed to be recognised if the plan was to work.