Children's champions

Lawyer Silvia Nicolaou Garcia named 2018 Children’s Champion

ECPAT UK has today announced solicitor Silvia Nicolaou Garcia as the recipient of the 2018 Children’s Champion award. Read more

Scottish Guardianship Service named ECPAT UK’s 2016 Children’s Champion

ECPAT UK has today announced the Scottish Guardianship Service as the recipient of the 2016 Children’s Champion award. Read more

Lord McColl of Dulwich is ECPAT UK’s 2015 Children’s Champion

ECPAT UK has today recognised leading Parliamentary children’s rights advocate Lord McColl with its 2015 Children’s Champion award. Read more

ECPAT UK names leading solicitor Children's Champion 2014

Leading refugee children's solicitor Kalvir Kaur has been presented with the 2014 ECPAT UK Children's Champion award. Read more

Safeguarding head named ECPAT UK Children’s Champion 2013

ECPAT UK has awarded Paul Hewitt, Head of Safeguarding Children in Hillingdon, our Children’s Champion Award for outstanding commitment to children in 2013. Read more

Latest

Independent Review of the Modern Slavery Act: ‘How is it fair to ignore children not yet identified as victims?’

Following the government’s response to recommendations made by the Independent Review of the Modern Slavery Act, ECPAT UK welcomes the implementation of a number of its recommendations to improve support for children. However there has been a missed opportunity for meaningful change that would ensure all potential victims are protected, by bringing the Independent Child Trafficking Guardianship service in line with guardianship in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Send our youth groups on a restorative residential trip

ECPAT UK's youth programme supports children and young people to recover from their experiences, gain skills and rebuild their lives. Each year, we take the young people away to help them rest and recover from the stresses of their everyday lives.

Modern slavery legislation review misses opportunity to expand support for children

An independent review of the Modern Slavery Act has made important calls for changes to the legislation. However despite calls from leading charities including ECPAT UK and thousands of supporters to ensure all trafficked and unaccompanied children are protected, the review failed to include supporting unaccompanied children in the scope of its recommendations.

New resource for local authorities to support trafficked children

As part of our Partnership Against Child Trafficking (PACT) project, ECPAT UK has produced a guide to assist local authorities to create or update their child trafficking and modern slavery policy.

The Secret Gardeners: New film on child trafficking from Vietnam

The Secret Gardeners aims to inform professionals about the plight of children who are forced by organised crime gangs to grow drugs in houses across the UK but who often face criminalisation and prison.

The National Referral Mechanism

The National Referral Mechanism is a process set up by the Government to identify and support victims of trafficking in the UK. It was born out of the Government's obligation to identify victims under the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Human Trafficking, which came into force on 1 February 2008.

Demand specialist support for trafficked children

In 2018 we worked with Care2 to call on the Home Secretary, Sajid Javid MP, to overhaul the current system of identification and support for victims of trafficking – the National Referral Mechanism (NRM).

Urgent action needed: Independent guardianship for all trafficked, unaccompanied and separated children

Last October, an incredible 120,535 supporters called for specialist support for all trafficked children. However, the fight is not finished. Make sure your voice is heard by contacting the Home Secretary asking him to provide guardianship for all trafficked, separated and unaccompanied children

Volunteer

ECPAT UK relies on committed volunteers to support the work that we do. Without their help, we would not be able to campaign as effectively against child exploitation.

Before the Harm is Done: Examining the UK's response to the prevention of trafficking

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.