FAQs on child trafficking

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.

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Governments must make good global promises on child labour

ECPAT UK is calling on governments across the world to honour the commitment to eradicate child labour on global World Day Against Child Labour (12th June).
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You may be surprised to hear that each year criminals bring hundreds of children to the UK for abuse in domestic servitude, sexual exploitation and other forms of forced labour. Just last year, for example, 700 children were found in horrendous circumstances of human trafficking, a 35% increase on the previous year. Your help is so urgently needed to stop this alarming trend.
Annual reports

ECPAT UK is a registered charity (Number 1104948) and a company limited by guarantee (Number 5061385).
ECPAT UK Row for Freedom

In 2012, Debbie Beadle, ECPAT UK Head of Youth Programmes, captained a team of women rowers across the Atlantic Ocean to raise awareness of human trafficking and raise funds for ECPAT UK. The Row For Freedom team earned two world records in the process: ‘The fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by an all-female team’ and ‘The first five-woman team to row any ocean’.

Better support, better protection: Steps lawyers and guardians can take to better identify and protect trafficked children

This report 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.
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 Heading Back to Harm, a study by leading charities ECPAT UK and Missing People.
Class Acts? Examining modern slavery legislation across the UK

Has new anti-slavery legislation across the UK increased prosecution of traffickers, prevented further trafficking and enhanced the protection of victims?
Time to deliver

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.
UK implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child

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.
Trafficking for Forced Criminal Activities and Begging in Europe

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.
Proposal for a Revised National Referral Mechanism (NRM): For Adults

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.
Proposal for a Revised National Referral Mechanism (NRM): For Children

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.
Modern Slavery, Human Trafficking and Human Exploitation Bill

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.
The National Referral Mechanism: A Five Year Review

The NRM process is at its worst discriminatory, flagrantly disregards specialist professional opinion and places victims of trafficking into situations of despair, the Anti-Trafficking Monitoring Group (ATMG) has said in its latest review.

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.
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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 Heading Back to Harm, a study by leading charities ECPAT UK and Missing People.
Record number of UK child trafficking cases reported in 2016

Child trafficking referrals increased by 30% to 1,278 in 2016, the highest on record according to the latest figures from the National Crime Agency.
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.
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Better support, better protection: Steps lawyers and guardians can take to better identify and protect trafficked children

This report 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.
Fundraise for us

Our incredible fundraisers make a real difference to the lives of trafficked young people.
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.
Hold online offenders financially accountable for child sexual abuse

In 2016, we called on Michael Gove MP, UK Secretary of State for Justice, to grant access to recovery funds for child victims of online sexual abuse. Thank you to the 38,543 ECPAT UK supporters who signed this petition.