A young girl has been smuggled out of Africa and sold for organ harvesting, authorities have revealed.

It is the first case of a child being trafficked into Britain for the express intention of providing organs for people desperate for a transplant, reports the Telegraph.

The girl, whose identity has been protected, was taken from Somalia and smuggled into the UK so that her organs could be removed and sold.

A British government report revealed human trafficking has reached record levels, rising by 50 per cent in the last year.

Of the 371 children exploited, most of them were used as slaves or were sexually abused.

They included 95 children from Vietnam, 67 from Nigeria and 25 from China, with other victims coming from Romania and Bangladesh.

The report also said 20 British girls had been victims of human trafficking, in cases where they were raped and exploited by gangs of Asian men.

In 2012, an adult woman was reported as the first case of a human brought to the UK by an organised gang with the intention of removing her organs and selling them on.

According to the World Health Organisation an international shortage of organs for transplantation has led to a black market for organ trading, as well as “organ transplant tourism”.

The WHO says payment for organs “is likely to take unfair advantage of the poorest and most vulnerable groups, undermines altruistic donation and leads to profiteering and human trafficking”.

Kidneys are the most trafficked organ, because one can be removed with the patient still being able to live a healthy life.

Around 7,000 kidneys are illegally trafficked annually. Illegal organ trading nets more than $1 billion each year.

This story originally appeared on News.com.au.