Young victims of modern slavery have shared their experiences following identification of human trafficking through the UK immigration and social care systems in a new report published today 

Press contact: Emma Griffiths | e.griffiths@shu.ac.uk

Led by the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice, the report summarises the main findings from a 12-month participatory research study which focuses on the experiences of young victims of modern slavery subject to immigration control.  

The young participants have identified what they would need to see for positive and meaningful change to happen in their lives and have helped to develop a Positive Outcomes Framework to be used by practitioners and policymakers.  

They talk about the distressing nature of the immigration process itself which many of the participants describe as being worse than experiences of human trafficking and undermines their human rights and places them at risk of further exploitation.   

The report follows the Home Office removing the modern slavery brief from the safeguarding minister and classing it as an ‘illegal immigration and asylum issue’, despite the fact that child trafficking and exploitation is recognised as a form of child abuse. 

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. Children and young people have rights – rights to be heard, participate and be able to develop their lives and contribute to society.  

"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.” 

Findings highlight the need for processes that are child-friendly and focus on creating safe environments in which young people can disclose exploitation. It is also important to the young participants that they are given opportunities to be heard, and freedom to contribute to society.  

“It is important for people to feel safe when they are sleeping in a new country… The staff need to be kind and nice because maybe people are coming from traumatic experiences. Staff have to be very understanding of what we have been through.” (Young victim of modern slavery) 

The report makes a series of recommendations to UK government, calling for children identified as potential victims of slavery and trafficking to be 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 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. 

The research was led by the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice at Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Bedfordshire’s Institute of Applied Social Research, in partnership with ECPAT UK (Every Child Protected Against Trafficking) and funded by the Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence 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.”