CHILD VICTIMS OF TRAFFICKING SHARE THEIR EXPERIENCES AND CALL FOR CHANGE AS THE UK GOVERNMENT CONTINUES TO ATTACK MODERN SLAVERY LAWS

“We start by saying every child and young person needs protection. …” (Young victim of modern slavery)

“These young people, they’re going to be someone in the future and they’re going to give back all that help that they got from this government and it’s very important for young people and support workers to know all of this.” (Young victim of modern slavery)

• Children and young people who have experienced modern slavery have contributed to groundbreaking research highlighting the challenges of the UK asylum, immigration and social care systems in a new report
• For the first time, young people have identified 25 distinct outcomes as being important and meaningful to them and have contributed to the development of a new ‘Positive Outcomes Framework’ which can be used by practitioners and policymakers when interacting with and supporting young victims of trafficking
• The report published today comes following the Home Office’s recent reclassification of modern slavery as an ‘illegal immigration and asylum issue’, rather than a safeguarding responsibility
• Young people have emphasised the negative impact of immigration procedures, marking a clear contrast with the Home Secretary’s recent claims that modern slavery laws are in the UK are “being abused by people gaming the system”
• The project focuses on the realisation of children’s rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: the right to life, survival and development; non-discrimination; protection and care; participation and decisions made in their best interests
• Findings establish that in order to achieve positive outcomes for child victims of trafficking, work with children and young people must have a participatory, child-centred and rights-based approach
• Safety, being believed, having access to good quality advice and support, trust, freedom and equality are also highlighted by young participants as being crucial for achieving positive outcomes
• Recommendations from the research call on the UK Government to ensure that child victims are always afforded their rights to protection and care
• They call on the Home Office specifically to ensure the immigration and asylum system does not re-traumatise children, with an emphasis on those procedures that have the potential to increase the risk of exploitation

 

Wednesday 19^th October – Young victims of modern slavery have shared their experiences following identification of human trafficking through the UK asylum, immigration and social care systems in a new report published today. It comes in the wake of recent updates to ministerial profiles, showing the Home Office has removed the modern slavery brief from the safeguarding minister and classed it as an ‘illegal immigration and asylum issue’, despite the fact that child trafficking and exploitation is recognised as a form of child abuse. Earlier in the month during her speech at the Conservative Party conference, the Home Secretary claimed that modern slavery laws in the UK are being “being abused by people gaming the system” in order to secure regularised immigration status.

The research, funded by the Modern Slavery PEC, focuses on the experiences of young victims of modern slavery (also subject to immigration control), who talk about their endurance of complex and protracted social care and criminal justice processes in the UK, emphasising in particular the negative impact of UK immigration procedures. The participants highlight the distressing nature of asylum decision-making, and some described waiting in immigration ‘limbo’ as being worse than experiences of exploitation. They say these procedures undermine the recognition and realisation of rights, and place young people at risk of further exploitation.

Young people have identified what they would need to see for positive and meaningful change to happen in their lives and have contributed to the development of a standalone ‘Positive Outcomes Framework’ which can be used by practitioners and policymakers as a holistic tool with unaccompanied child victims of trafficking who come to the UK.

“So I think for professionals when they actually love you they will go that extra mile to make sure they get you sorted … They show you sympathy, empathy because they are actually trying to feel what you are feeling at that point, so because the best way for you to help someone.” (Young victim of modern slavery)

One of the report’s key findings establishes that in order to achieve positive outcomes for child victims of trafficking, work with children and young people must have a participatory, child-centred and rights-based approach. Feeling and being safe is key to securing positive outcomes, the participants say, and central to achieving this are systems and processes that are child-friendly and focus on creating safe environments in which young people are able to disclose exploitation. Access to trusting relationships, independent guardians and high-quality legal advice were also key themes that emerged from the research. It is also important to the young participants that they are given opportunities to be heard, and freedom to contribute to society.

“I might have got support at the beginning but I want to give back that to the country.” (Young victim of modern slavery)

The young participants highlight the multiple and persistent barriers to accessing documentation and the challenges involved in securing decisions relating to their immigration status. They talk about the distressing nature of the immigration process itself, and the difficulties presented by living for years in immigration ‘limbo’, while decisions on their status remained outstanding.

“... the most difficult part is after you’ve had your interview, waiting for the decision, imagine you have plans to go to uni, you can’t because you’ll be just like, “Will I get this? Will I get that? What will be the decision? Yes or no?.” And this takes more time and you don’t know what to do, you’re just like waiting every day…” (Young victim of modern slavery)

“A good system of equality from the government. We are talking about giving people their documents on time. … Some people are waiting for so long.” (Young victim of modern slavery)

The report summarises the findings from a 12-month participatory research study based on the voices of victims of child trafficking. The research aimed to understand what positive outcomes for these young people would look like, and what the pathways towards these positive outcomes might be. It examines how to ensure protection, and support for children who have experienced modern slavery. The research was led by the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice at Sheffield Hallam University in partnership with the University of Bedfordshire’s Institute of Applied Social Research and ECPAT UK (Every Child Protected Against Trafficking).

The report makes a series of recommendations to UK government and devolved administrations, calling for children identified as potential victims of slavery and trafficking to be promptly assigned an independent legal guardian, for the Home Office to ensure the immigration and asylum system does not re-traumatise children and for the Ministry of Justice to ensure all child victims can access a solicitor who has the expertise to properly represent them. The 13 recommendations also highlight that all decisions about children must be made with their best interests as the primary consideration, and that local authority children’s services must enable psychological and physical recovery for child victims, particularly in the provision of safe accommodation and access to mental health services.

Professor Patricia Hynes, Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice, Sheffield Hallam University, said: “This is the first time young people have identified what they need to see for positive and meaningful change to happen in their lives within a Positive Outcomes Framework with 25 key outcomes that are also in line with the UK’s obligations under the UNCRC. Children and young people have rights – rights to be heard, participate and be able to develop their lives and contribute to society. In this research we found a real lack of focus in existing literature about these rights to personal development and this really contrasted with how young people imagined their own futures. We also found that there is existing good practice to ensure young people affected by human trafficking can experience trusting relationships in spaces that are safe and offer some stability. If we are serious about enabling positive outcomes for all these young people, these examples of good practice could and should be replicated beyond the excellent work of a few outstanding organisations.”

Dr Helen Connolly, Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Bedfordshire, said: “This is such an important piece of research, and it has been a privilege to work with young people, the research team and MSPEC on what I hope will be a foundational piece of research, paving the way for future research, policy and practice to work within a futures/outcomes paradigm for this group of young people. The language of outcomes developed by the young people in this project is the language of dignity, reflecting their hopes for themselves, and for others, to a life that is safe, peaceful and allows them to freely contribute to the communities they live in. It opens up some fresh ways to interpret the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child for law, practice and policy that keeps children and young people's  humanity and development at the centre.”

Patricia Durr, CEO of ECPAT UK, said: “This project is a clear demonstration of the importance of children’s rights and the participation of children and young people in all matters affecting them.  To be and to feel safe and protected is a fundamental right for children. The government has a legal duty to care for every child in this country who requires protection, regardless of who they are, where they came from or how they arrived in the UK. In this report, young victims of trafficking and exploitation are telling us in the strongest possible terms how important this protection is – how critical it is for them to feel safe in order to recover from their abuse and begin to build stable futures. They also tell us that often they do not feel safe at all, and are fearful about their futures, their status in the UK, re-trafficking and other threats to their health and wellbeing. The barriers these young people tell us they face in achieving the positive outcomes we should expect for all children are evidence of an  unacceptable failure of our duties of care and protection to child victims. Despite those barriers, the young people involved were able to imagine better futures for themselves and other young victims. Decision makers must listen and we must all work together to do more and better.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

The research in this project was conducted independently of ECPAT UK’s ‘Stable Futures’ campaign.

Pandora Haydon, Communications and Campaigns Manager, ECPAT UK, [email protected],  07402 113 985

About the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice at Sheffield Hallam University

The Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice at Sheffield Hallam University is a leading centre for human rights and social justice. The Centre is home to a range of applied research, projects, education and scholarship including work around social justice, rights, law, policing, community justice, gender-based violence, refugee rights, human trafficking and modern slavery.

About the Institute of Applied Social Research at the University of Bedfordshire

The Institute of Applied Social Research at the University of Bedfordshire brings together inter-disciplinary research which anticipates and shapes key changes in policy, administration and practice. Its research focuses on the forced migration and human trafficking of children and young people, safeguarding children and young people from child sexual exploitation and other forms of abuse, contextual safeguarding, looked after children and care leavers and youth crime and victimisation, policing and the operation of the youth justice and community safety services.

About ECPAT UK

ECPAT UK (Every Child Protected Against Trafficking UK) is a leading children’s rights charity, campaigning and advocating for the rights of children to be protected from all forms of exploitation. We work directly with young victims of trafficking and their voices and experiences informs all our work. ECPAT UK is part of the ECPAT International network, which is present in 103 countries, working to end the sexual abuse and exploitation of children.

About the Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre

The Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre (Modern Slavery PEC) was created by the investment of public funding to enhance understanding of modern slavery and transform the effectiveness of law and policies designed to address it. The Centre funds and co-creates high quality research with a focus on policy impact, and brings together academics, policymakers, businesses, civil society, survivors and the public on a scale not seen before in the UK to collaborate on solving this global challenge. The Centre is a consortium of six academic organisations led by the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law and is funded by the Art and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) on behalf of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Read more about the Modern Slavery PEC at www.modernslaverypec.org.

The study was funded as part of the portfolio of projects aiming to improve key areas of support for people affected by modern slavery in the UK. The views expressed in this briefing are those of the authors and not necessarily of the Modern Slavery PEC.