LONDON, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith announced on Monday her intention to ratify the Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking by the end of this year.

    Ratification of the convention against human trafficking will be yet another milestone in the government's concerted strategy to protect the victims of human trafficking and bring to justice those that exploit them, said a Home Office press release.

    "One of the vilest crimes that threaten our society is the trafficking of human beings. This horrendous crime is the product of organized criminality, whose business is to make money from human misery," said Smith.

    She said Britain will make the necessary legislative and procedural changes before the end of this year as part of our wider strategy to combat human trafficking.

    According to the home secretary, Britain launched an action plan last March on human trafficking. "We have also established a dedicated Human Trafficking Center and provided 4.5-million-pound (9 million U.S. dollars) over the last five years for victim protection under the Poppy scheme, which supports adult women trafficked into Britain for sexual exploitation.

    Significant progress has been made towards ratification, which includes the agreement of a provisional implementation plan by the Inter-departmental Ministerial Group on Trafficking in July, the development of models of victim support and the piloting of a victim identification process under the police-led, multi-agency anti-trafficking operation, Pentameter 2.

    The Home Office also hosted with the Council of Europe a conference in London designed to share experience of implementing the convention.

    The criminalization of all forms of human trafficking has already secured 68 convictions under the Sexual Offenses Act and combating trafficking has been made a priority for The Serious and Organized Crime Agency, said the release.

    Also on Monday, the Home Office announced a review of the government's reservation on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The review will assess the continuing need for the reservation in the light of the plans to ratify the Council of Europe Convention against human trafficking and following a number of child protection developments in Britain, including placing the Border and Immigration Agency's responsibilities to keep children safe from harm on a statutory basis.