A new report published today by Every Child Protected Against Trafficking (ECPAT UK) show that despite progress made in reporting cases of trafficked children and dedicated legislation across the UK, there is much more that needs to be done to tackle child exploitation.

In particular, ECPAT notes the commitment made by the Government under the introduction of the 2015 Modern Slavery Act, the introduction of an independent child advocate scheme for child victims of trafficking, which has yet to be fully implemented.

The latest statistics

The report highlights the high numbers of children being identified as possible victims of trafficking:

• In 2017 2,118 children referred into the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), the current system for identifying victims of trafficking and modern slavery. Children made up nearly half (41%) of the total number of suspected trafficking victims in 2017, and the number of children suspected of trafficking rose by 66% compared to the previous year.
• There was a sharp rise in UK nationals referred into the NRM in 2017 - out the children referred into the NRM in 2017, the most common country of origin was the UK (32%).

Prosecutions and convictions for modern slavery remain low

ECPAT expresses concern about the lack of specific data on the number of prosecutions and convictions for trafficking crimes against children. There is no publicly available data on the proportion of modern day slavery cases in the UK that involved acts perpetrated against children, which ECPAT believes is unhelpful and masks the reality that many children’s cases are not successfully prosecuted.

Child trafficking victims at high risk of going missing from the care system

ECPAT repeats significant concerns that there is still a high number of trafficked children going missing from care, which they highlighted in a previous report.

CARE’s Senior Policy Officer – Human Trafficking, Louise Gleich comments on the report

“Trafficked children are one of the most vulnerable groups in society. The Government should take note of this report and take new steps to address the epidemic of child exploitation in the UK.”

“This report highlights the significant gaps in data collection that mask the scale how many child victims of trafficking there are in the UK. Without data on how many successful prosecutions in which the victim of trafficking is a child, how can we know whether child victims of trafficking are receiving justice?”

“Once a child is rescued from exploitation it is a complete failing of the state if they then end up missing from care, and at worst end up back in the hands of their traffickers."

"Government trials of child trafficking advocates have been overwhelmingly positive. The advocates play a vital role in highlighting potential risks, pushing local authorities to provide safer accommodation and tracing children who have gone missing.”

“The Government must move quickly to roll out the Independent Child Trafficking Advocate Scheme across the country. The advocates not only provide specialist support, clarity and continuity for the child but also provide an extra layer of safeguarding, helping prevent them from going missing."

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