Our team

Staff & Volunteers

Bogi Meggyesfalvi is our Research Volunteer

Diana Repcenko is our Finance and Administration Manager

Elias Matar is our Youth Programme Manager

Laura Durán is our Senior Policy and Research Officer

Lois Fallon is our Fundraising Officer

Pandora Haydon is our Communications and Campaigns Manager

Patricia Durr is our Chief Executive Officer

Phil Spencer is our Training and Practice Officer

Temitope Adekoya is our Youth Support and Participation Officer

To contact a member of the team: [email protected]

For press enquiries: [email protected]
For training enquiries: [email protected]
For youth programme and youth group enquiries: [email protected]

Trustees

Photo of Liz Barratt

Liz Barratt, Chair of the Board of Trustees

Liz is the Joint Head of Immigration at Bindmans and has acted in many cases involving children who are unaccompanied and trafficked as well as for looked after children. Prior to qualifying as a solicitor, Liz worked in the voluntary sector as a housing adviser and as a refuge worker for Women’s Aid.

Liz is also a former trustee and Chair of the Trustee Board for the charity Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID). Liz has acted in several high profile cases involving unaccompanied and trafficked children, and her work on the application of the Dublin Regulation led to a change in the law and Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year 2012:

MA and BT v SSHD C-648/11 relating to the application of the Dublin Regulation to unaccompanied children, which clarified the law in this area
R (on the application of SA) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] EWHC 1611 (Admin) in relation to the application of good character requirements for registration of children as British citizens

Annabel Mullin, Trustee

Annabel is Principal Consultant at OneFifty, a specialist consultancy in digital communications, and focuses on supporting clients work in Sustainability and ESG. She has many year’s experience running political campaigns and is co-founder of politically-oriented organisations Stand for Something and Advance Together, as well as co-leading the organisation Renew.

Annabel is also on the supplementary magistrate list and sat for nine years at the Central London Bench including the Old Bailey. Before this she worked in financial analysis in the City, with the NHS to rehabilitate and reintegrate offenders with severe mental illness, and as a Met police officer. Annabel is currently completing her ESRC Funded PhD at UCL using life course data to understand criminal propensity and guiding policy to reduce offending.

Deveena Sahota, Trustee

Deveena is a Young Women’s Practitioner at the organisation Abianda and has been advocating for young people at risk of exploitation for 10 years in roles across the charity sector. Deveena has supported organisations in the development of their approaches to participation, equalities work and thinking intersectionally.

Deveena has worked in partnership to tackle violence against women and girls and managed staff across three London boroughs in the delivery of a specialist project tackling child sexual exploitation. At Abianda, Deveena provides support to young women who have been exploited, providing 1:1 support and advocacy.

Geoff Corre, Trustee

Geoff is a social worker, trainer, consultant in countering trafficking and modern slavery and an accredited serious case review author. He wrote the first serious case review into the death of a child believed to have been trafficked from Vietnam to the UK and conducted a major local review of child sexual exploitation. Geoff was a trustee and Chair of the Board of Trustees for the National Working Group on Child Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking.

Geoff has extensive experience in child protection as a provider, commissioner and regulator. He has acted as Head of Child Protection for a large county council and managed a multi-agency safeguarding hub. As an HMI, he has inspected child protection services in local authorities and police forces for Ofsted and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary. Geoff is a member of Locate International’s advisory board and a trustee with the Peace Hospice in Watford.

Nicky Guy, Trustee

Dr Nicky Guy is the Deputy Director for Culture and Sport at the Welsh Government. She joined the Board in 2016 having previously been the Head of Vulnerability, including child trafficking and missing people, at the Home Office.

Nicky has undertaken a range of Civil Service roles, focusing on culture, heritage and support of vulnerable people. She has a strong interest in south eastern Europe, especially Albania and Kosova, following her PhD and book on Albanian independence.

Renata de Groot, Trustee

Renata is Head of Enabling and Delivery at Oxfam and has over ten years’ experience in the charity sector, with particular expertise in international development and fundraising. At Oxfam, Renata has developed strategy, managed operational teams and designed ways of working, as well as delivering fundraising and communications.

Renata has also worked with Hope and Homes for Children in the UK as well as a local child protection charity in the Philippines, and has a strong commitment to supporting organisations to develop feminist, anti-racist and safe practice.

Latest

Independent Review of Children’s Social Care launches its final report

The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care final report makes 72 recommendations. ECPAT UK's response looks at where the review falls short, and highlights welcome proposals for improving child protection and care services.
SPACE TO THRIVE: we need more support for child victims of trafficking and exploitation to recover from trauma and abuse

Last week was Mental Health Awareness Week 2022. Here, ECPAT UK reflects on the impact that trafficking and exploitation can have on the mental health of children and young people, and outlines how we can better support child victims to recover from trauma and abuse.
Queen's speech announces significant reforms affecting children's rights

The Queen’s Speech 2022 confirmed that in the new parliamentary session, there will be significant reform affecting the rights of children and young people. On the heels of the Nationality and Borders Act 2022, the government has announced more modern slavery legislation. It has affirmed too that the Online Safety Bill is carried over from the last parliamentary session. Also announced was a new Bill of Rights.
ECPAT UK welcomes the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner’s annual report as Dame Sara Thornton stands down from the role

Last week, Dame Sara Thornton’s third and final annual report as the UK’s Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner was laid before parliament. ECPAT UK welcomes the report and thanks the Commissioner and her office for all their work over the past three years, especially the focus on child victims and their rights to protection and care.

About us

ECPAT UK is a leading children's rights organisation working to protect children from child trafficking and transnational child exploitation. We support children everywhere to uphold their rights and to live a life free from abuse and exploitation.
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.
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

Thirty years ago, a campaign to end child sexual exploitation was launched in Thailand by a small group of concerned individuals. Thirty years later, the ECPAT campaign has evolved into a global network of dedicated civil society organisations.
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.

Child trafficking statistics

The latest data on the number of victims of trafficking in the UK and worldwide.
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.
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.
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.
What is child trafficking?
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
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).
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.
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.
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.