Our team

Staff & Volunteers

Akansha Mehrotra is our Youth Mentoring and Outreach Worker

Alice Healy-Smith is our Sessional Youth Counsellor

Diana Repcenko is our Finance and Administration Manager

Elias Matar is our Youth Programme Manager

Haleema Ogazi-Khan is our Youth Programme Volunteer

Helen O'Neill is our Communications and Campaigns Lead

Imogen Spencer Chapman is our Head of Operations, Training and Quality Practice

Laura Durán is our Head of Policy, Advocacy and Research

Laura Maria Cárdenas Ovalle is our Youth Mentoring and Outreach Worker

Leah Davison is our Social Worker for Unaccompanied Children

Patricia Durr is our Chief Executive Officer

Rashi Mitra is our Fundraising and Partnerships Lead

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.

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.

Ahmed Ayeed, Trustee

Ahmed Aydeed is a director of public law at Duncan Lewis Solicitors who specialises in the field of public law and human rights, where he represents non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and individuals who receive legal aid. Recommended by the Legal 500 for his immigration work, he is described as having “extensive experience in asylum claims and unlawful detention matters”. He regularly acts on behalf of unaccompanied minors, child survivors of trafficking and children in care.

After providing evidence during the Home Affairs Select Committee's investigation into Modern Slavery, Ahmed was nominated as a finalist for the Children's Champion award in 2019 by Every Child Protected Against Trafficking (ECPAT). He was subsequently awarded the Marsh Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Fight Against Modern Slavery at the 2019 Anti-Slavery Day Awards.

Latest

Judge rules that the Home Secretary acted irrationally in the case brought by Kent County Council on the operation of the National Transfer Scheme

High Court rules that the Home Secretary acted irrationally in its operation of the National Transfer Scheme in a further judgement about the accommodation of unaccompanied children in Home Office hotels.
ECPAT UK BIG GIVE CHRISTMAS CHALLENGE 2023

We are delighted to be taking part once again in the Big Give Christmas Challenge Week matched funding campaign. From 28th November to 5th December 2023 all donations are DOUBLED in support of our direct work with child victims of trafficking
Care For Every Child

Learn about our new #CareForEveryChild project offering support to children who have spent time in UK Home Office hotels outside of the care that they were entitled to and at risk.
King’s Speech announces new laws to tackle online child exploitation whilst reconfirming the UK government’s desire to remove the rights of child victims

The King’s Speech, which was held on 7th November 2023, announces new laws to tackle online child exploitation whilst reconfirming the UK government’s desire to remove the rights of child victims.

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.
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.
What is child trafficking?
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.
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.
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.
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) is an international human rights treaty that grants all children and young people (aged 17 and under) a comprehensive set of rights. The UK signed the Convention on 19 April 1990, ratified it on 16 December 1991 and it came into force on 15 January 1992.
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.
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).