Belfast airports may get extra security to prevent child trafficking

Extra security to prevent child trafficking could be introduced at Belfast airports if it becomes a problem, a British Home Office minister warned today.

An initial scheme separating adults from children at Heathrow has had some success, Meg Hillier added. She said there was no evidence of a specific weak link in the North but warned it was important to remain alert.

The minister attended a question and answer session with migrant support workers at Stormont today.

"We are keen to ensure that any port of entry is a safe one and isn't being used by people who want to exploit human beings," she said.

"We have not received any particular information that there is such a burning problem in Belfast."

She said at Heathrow security staff were discreetly taking aside children they suspect may have been trafficked and there were cases of detection there.

The minister added there was no routine intra-UK screening, and that it had to be intelligence-linked.

Last May, detectives in the North intercepted a Chinese organised crime gang involved in human trafficking and rescued six trafficking victims.

The PSNI-led Operation Sleek resulted in a number of properties searched and arrests made, with six victims of human trafficking rescued.

Earlier last year police said they had saved 11 people from the abuse.

Ms Hillier also said there were proposals to make some migrants carry identity documents within the common travel area between the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

She was also challenged about the impact of the UK Border Agency's rules on workers who feel exploited by employers.

Kevin Doherty, from migrant workers' support at the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, said because work permits are linked to posts with a specific employer, staff who felt aggrieved found it impossible to complain or lodge an industrial tribunal case.

He said they were usually sacked when they made an official objection and had only a month to remain in the country, forced out long before their case was heard.

"It is quite a massive exploitation of very vulnerable workers," he said.

He added: "People are in the Philippines and are promised a contract, then they come to Northern Ireland and find the rate of pay is not what they expected, the conditions are worse, the hours are a lot longer."

He added there were separate cases when some merely transferred from agency to permanent work, but this produced irregularities in their paperwork. When employers heard the Border Agency's "get tough" message on illegal workers, they were sacked.

The minister said business owners needed to be educated about the rules.

"That is not intended to be a brake on people working, but simply to be a control on people working," she said.