About us

Every Child Protected Against Trafficking (ECPAT UK) is a leading children's rights organisation working to protect children from trafficking and transnational exploitation. We support children everywhere to uphold their rights and to live a life free from abuse and exploitation.

Our vision

Children everywhere are free from exploitation, trafficking and modern slavery

Our mission

To improve legislation, policy to end child trafficking and transnational child exploitation

To improve the child protection response of professionals in the UK and overseas

To ensure that children affected by exploitation are agents of change and part of the solution

Our work

Policy, advocacy and campaigns

We lobby governments to:

improve legislation, policy and practice to protect children
prevent child trafficking
implement tougher action against those who abuse children.

Youth work

We directly support children who have been trafficked and provide expertise in children's cases.

Training

We deliver rights-based, practical training to professionals working with children.

Research

We publish cutting-edge research on child trafficking and exploitation, informed by our direct work with trafficked children and the professionals who support them.

Awareness raising

We work in partnership with various organisations to build a common understanding and to enhance expertise on protecting children from commercial sexual exploitation of children in tourism.

Policy development and legal reform

We work with children's rights organisations, anti-trafficking NGOs, child protection agencies, communities and governments to identify strategies to combat child trafficking and the exploitation of children in tourism.

Latest

The government must ramp up protection of children abroad from abuse and exploitation by UK nationals, says Inquiry

Following a landmark Inquiry into the sexual abuse of children abroad by UK nationals, which revealed systemic and procedural failures to prevent UK nationals from sexually exploiting children abroad, ECPAT UK is pleased that the Inquiry’s report includes our key recommendations. ECPAT UK now calls on the government to urgently implement these measures to ensure children abroad are protected from exploitation and abuse.
Marking 25 years of ECPAT UK

This December, we celebrated 25 years of ECPAT UK. Over the last quarter of a century, we’ve secured major wins for some of the world’s most vulnerable children and ensured trafficked children’s rights remain on the public agenda.
An Introduction to Child Trafficking, Exploitation and Modern Slavery

Our full-day face-to-face training will support participants to develop a clear understanding of how to recognise child trafficking, exploitation and modern slavery, as well as provide up-to-date skills to respond to these abuses and better support trafficked children.
Child Criminal Exploitation and Trafficking

In this full-day training course, participants will gain an understanding of the causes and dynamics of forced criminality amongst children in the UK. This course will build participants' capacity to identify the various forms of forced criminality and provide best practice guidance and tools to support participants to respond appropriately and safeguard children in their work. A more specific and specialist version of this course can be provided for those working in the Youth Justice System.

Our approach

We take a rights-based approach, centring every child’s fundamental human right to be protected from trafficking and exploitation as outlined in national legislation and the European and international legal framework. Our work is child-centred and guided by the meaningful and ethical participation of the young people we support.
Our team

ECPAT UK's team has more than 30 years' experience working on issues of child trafficking, child protection, child sexual exploitation, unaccompanied children, modern slavery and more.
ECPAT International

Established in 1994, ECPAT UK is the national member of ECPAT International, a global network of children's rights organisations coordinating research, advocacy and action to end the commercial sexual exploitation of children.
Our history

Twenty five years ago, the idea of a campaign to ‘End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism’ was launched in Thailand by a small group of concerned individuals. Twenty-five years later, this campaign, ECPAT, has evolved into a global network of civil society organisations dedicated to end the commercial sexual exploitation of children.
Contact us

If you have an immediate concern about a child's welfare, please contact your local council's social care department, who are available 24 hours a day. For all other enquiries related to our work, contact [email protected] or call 020 7607 2136.

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.
Child trafficking statistics
Heading back to harm: A study on trafficked and unaccompanied children going missing from care in the UK

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.
Our team

ECPAT UK's team has more than 30 years' experience working on issues of child trafficking, child protection, child sexual exploitation, unaccompanied children, modern slavery and more.
ECPAT UK training

ECPAT UK offers a comprehensive training programme, in line with National Occupational Standards, delivering courses for more than 20 years to help improve responses to child trafficking, modern slavery and exploitation.