Northern Ireland is one step closer to having Independent Guardians available to support and advocate for trafficked and unaccompanied migrant children in Northern Ireland following the passing of key regulations by the Health Committee of the Northern Ireland Assembly yesterday.

The duty to provide Independent Guardians to assist, support, advise and advocate for these very vulnerable children who are living in Northern Ireland and do not have parents to help them. These children in an unfamiliar country, they may not be able to speak English, they do not understand complex systems of immigration, how local authorities work, or what help and services they are entitled to. Some of them have already experienced trafficking, exploitation, threats and abuse by the time they come to the attention of the authorities, all of them face the risk of future harm by people who take advantage of their lack of understanding, and often lack of trust in the authorities.

The Independent Guardian system is designed to help protect children from further exploitation, to build their trust and understanding of the authorities in Northern Ireland, and to help them to assert their rights and access services they are entitled to.

Since the passing of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Criminal Justice and Support for Victims) Act (Northern Ireland) 2015 which created the Independent Guardian scheme, it has taken some time for the Department of Health in Northern Ireland to finalise the details about who will be eligible to take on the role of Independent Guardian and how the scheme will work. Now that these things have been established by the regulations passed yesterday the process of getting the scheme up and running can begin.

During the passage of the recent new anti-trafficking laws in all parts of the UK CARE called on all the responsible governments and administrations to make guardians or advocates for trafficked children a part of the legislation and we warmly welcomed the very comprehensive measures passed in Northern Ireland. We are extremely pleased that these will be a reality for children across the Province before too much longer – hopefully by Easter 2017.