'When Harm Remains: an update report on trafficked and unaccompanied children going missing from care in the UK' follows up on ECPAT UK’s and Missing People’s first study, 'Heading Back to Harm' (which discovered that an alarmingly high number of children go missing from care with many never being found), and our second study, 'Still in Harm’s Way', which confirmed the findings that trafficked and unaccompanied children are amongst those at greatest risk of going missing in the UK. Read more
Our latest snapshot report on child trafficking has been produced jointly with the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, Dame Sara Thornton. Child trafficking remains a significant and growing problem in the UK and the report provides an overview including the latest data, policy developments, examples of promising practice and challenges faced by practitioners. It concludes with a series of 10 recommendations. Read more
ECPAT UK's latest snapshot report on child trafficking in the UK provides an overview of the issues affecting children, including inadequate support provision and long term instability. The report highlights never seen before data on immigration outcomes for child victims, secured through Freedom of Information Act requests to the Home Office. Read more
ECPAT UK and the Office of the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner have produced a review into models of multi-agency decision making in the UK. A review of what works in multi-agency decision making and the implications for child victims of trafficking makes recommendations for best practice in multi-agency decision making for child victims of trafficking, including potential future devolved decision-making in the National Referral Mechanism. Read more
As part of our Safeguarding Migrant Children Across Europe (AMINA) project, ECPAT UK and Missing Children Europe's new report 'Interact: Towards a more efficient cooperation across borders for the protection of children in migration from trafficking and exploitation' identifies gaps in child protections and makes recommendations to ensure children are safeguarded. Read more
This report from the Anti-Trafficking Monitoring Group (ATMG), Real People, Real lives: Ten years of advocacy for victims of slavery in the UK, tells the story of how and why the ATMG was formed, and aims to illustrate the coalition as a model for good practice in holding governments around the world to account through ‘critical friendship’. Read more
Child trafficking is a complex phenomenon. We created our FAQs on child trafficking resource to answer some of the most commonly asked questions in our daily interactions with child protection professionals and members of the public. Read more
New research by ECPAT UK, Anti-Slavery International and Pacific Links Foundation traces the journeys made by Vietnamese children and adults migrating irregularly from Vietnam to the UK via Europe. The report, Precarious Journeys: Mapping Vulnerabilities of Victims of Trafficking from Vietnam to Europe, finds that the governments of countries on key trafficking routes routinely fail to protect Vietnamese children from trafficking, leaving them vulnerable to continued exploitation and abuse. Read more
Following our ground-breaking 2016 research, leading charities ECPAT UK and Missing People have revisited the issue of trafficked and unaccompanied children going missing from care using 2017. Still in Harm's Way: An update report on trafficked and unaccompanied children going missing from care in the UK finds that these children are still going missing at an alarmingly high rate. Read more
The UK Government is failing to protect thousands of children from exploitation by lacking a plan to prevent child trafficking, according to a new report by the Anti-Trafficking Monitoring Group (ATMG), a coalition of twelve UK-based charities, including ECPAT UK. The report Before the Harm is Done, stresses that the UK has no specific strategy in relation to preventing trafficking in children, putting thousands of children at risk. Read more
ECPAT UK's new snapshot report provides an overview of the state of modern slavery affecting children in the UK, drawing on our experience of working with young people who have been exploited, and compiling the latest statistics and recent policy developments on this important issue. Read more
Time to transform shows the results of ECPAT UK's survey into frontline professionals’ attitudes towards the National Referral Mechanism, specifically in regard to children’s cases. Read more
The second report for the ReACT project provides guidance for professionals on how to improve the identification and protection of children who may have been trafficked. Read more
This report for the ReACT project provides a snapshot of the manner in which children who may have been trafficked into and within five EU states were or were not identified and protected in and up to 2016. Read more
Trafficked and unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are going missing from UK care at an “alarmingly high” rate, according to a new study by leading charities ECPAT UK and Missing People. Read more
Has new anti-slavery legislation across the UK increased prosecution of traffickers, prevented further trafficking and enhanced the protection of victims? Read more
Victims of trafficking who are pregnant or have children are ‘systematically overlooked’ in the UK’s anti-trafficking response, according to a new report by the Anti-Trafficking Monitoring Group (ATMG), a coalition of twelve UK-based charities, including ECPAT UK. Read more
This report presents findings from an evaluation of a one-year trial of the Independent Child Trafficking Advocates (ICTA) service that took place across 23 local authority areas in England. The trial was part of the Government’s commitment to section 48 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, which sets out provisions for the ICTA service. Read more
UK Government policies and spending decisions are failing to prioritise children, including child victims of trafficking, according to new research by the Children's Rights Alliance for England (CRAE), which ECPAT UK is a member. Read more
Child trafficking is a complex phenomenon. Here are answers to ten of the most commonly asked questions in our daily interactions with child protection professionals. Read more
The UK and neighbouring European states fail to protect thousands of adults and children trafficked and forced into crime, according to a new study by the RACE in Europe Project. Read more
The Anti-Trafficking Monitoring Group (ATMG) proposes replacing the current “flawed” system for adults with one of two models, utilising victim-centred and human rights-based approaches, and drawing on the OHCHR Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking. Read more
ECPAT UK, as part of the ATMG, has proposed an "alternative" NRM model that puts children at the heart of the identification process, embedding it within existing safeguarding systems in order to identify more children who may have been trafficked and generally improve the UK’s response to trafficked children. Read more
The UK Government’s claim that it will produce a ‘world-leading Modern Slavery Bill’ has been challenged by a group of leading anti-trafficking charities, including ECPAT UK, who today published an ‘Alternative Bill’ highlighting deficiencies in the legislation. Read more