Modern Slavery and Trafficking

“An umbrella term for activities involved when one person obtains or holds another person in slavery or servitude, or requires another person to perform forced or compulsory labour.”

Adapted from the Modern Slavery Act, 2015

“Human Trafficking is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of people through force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them for profit.”

From the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

Forced labour - any type of work, legal or illegal, a victim is forced to do against their will. Exploiters might trick their victims by promising well-paid work and good accommodation. Victims are forced to work long hours for little or no pay and are often made to live in poor conditions. It can still be modern slavery if the victim is kept in decent conditions but is forced to work.

Sexual exploitation - we know that adults with the capacity to consent are able to make choices regarding the work they do – however, some people are exploited within the sex work industry. Types of sex work include brothels, saunas, massage parlours, webcams, sex chat rooms, escort agencies and lap dancing. Sexual exploitation might also relate to other forms of sexual activity outside of the sex work industry, for example children can be manipulated or coerced into creating child sexual abuse imagery. The ‘boyfriend’ or ‘friend’ model of coercion features the victim being led to believe that their abuser is their friend or romantic partner. The victim might believe they are consenting to sexual acts, but the relationship is also controlling and abusive.

Domestic servitude – often the victim will be made to live on the exploiter’s property and is forced to do things for their exploiter such cleaning, cooking and looking after children. They cannot change their circumstances because they might not have any money, a passport or other way of escaping.

Organ harvesting – a form of exploitation in which victims have internal body parts removed. Victims often appear to have consented to the removal of their organs, but their consent is invalid when deception, fraud or abuse of a position of vulnerability is involved. Exploiters profit by selling these organs to recipients who are unable or unwilling to wait for legal transplants. The most harvested organs from victims are kidneys, followed by parts of livers.

Financial exploitation - money laundering by coercing or manipulating someone into moving money through their accounts. It can also involve children being pressured into opening a account which is then controlled by the exploiter.

Forced cannabis cultivation - victims are held in a property against their will and forced to tend to cannabis plants. This is more likely to affect older children and adults, including those who have been trafficked into the country. If anything happens to damage the cannabis crop, the victim is blamed and may be forced into debt bondage (see below).

Debt bondage - a form of entrapment which occurs when someone owes money to exploiters and is made to do tasks or ‘favours’, such as provide free labour, enact violence, steal, move items, store items and/or sell drugs.

Forced marriage - a forced marriage happens when someone (male or female) is faced with physical or emotional pressure to marry. The force may include threats of/actual physical or sexual violence, financial abuse (e.g., the taking away of someone’s wages) and/or the individual being made to feel they are bringing ‘shame’ on the family by refusing to marry. Forced marriage is illegal in the UK.

County lines model of drug supply - drug networks use children and young people to carry out illegal activity on their behalf. The term originates from the use of dedicated mobile phone lines or other form of “deal line” to sell drugs from cities out to suburban and rural areas.

Many of the signs are like those we see with any abusive situation; however, some specific considerations relate to children who:

• are in situations where you do not know who holds parental responsibility (see also private fostering);

• are missing from education and/or home;

• have unbelievable or surprising accounts of how they are in the country or area;

• have parents working without pay;

• are involved in inappropriate work for their age and stage of development;

• display multiple or repeated injuries;

• have tattoos or other marks indicating ‘ownership’;

• distrust authority;

• show recurring symptoms of poor physical, sexual and emotional health;

• display any indicators of child exploitation occurring.

• are not registered with a school or a GP practice​;

• do not have any documents (or have falsified documents);

• stay out overnight with no explanation;

• are seen getting into unknown cars or taxis;

• experience a breakdown of Care placements;

• have money or goods, including mobile phones, drugs and alcohol, that they cannot account for;

• experience multiple sexually transmitted infections, miscarriages or terminations;

• are self-harming;

• misuse substances;

• are known or thought be involved in criminal activity;

• spend lots of time doing household chores, rarely leave their house, and have no time for play.

Whilst we are considering child safeguarding here, it is important to remember that modern slavery and trafficking are forms of abuse which can affect adults too. It might be that the adults in the families of the children you are working with are victims of modern slavery and or trafficking and, if so, this might well have safeguarding implications for the children you are working with. It is important to always be curious about any signs or indicators which might be present for the adults in the family too.

Know the safeguarding processes in your setting - modern slavery and the trafficking of children is child abuse, therefore normal child protection procedures apply.

Be aware of additional vulnerabilities – are there children at your setting who may be particularly vulnerable to modern slavery, trafficking or any other form of exploitation? Could they benefit from early intervention? Share information at an early stage about any concerns.

Consider the child’s lived experiences - build and use your relationships with children and young people to understand what’s happening in their community (in school, locally and online).

Listen to/observe the ‘voice’ of the child - children and young people often find it difficult to speak about their experiences – what is their behaviour trying to tell you? Work with them to build trust and be a safe person for them to come to when needed.

Avoid victim-blaming language that can deflect attention from and down-play the experiences of victims leading to lack of confidence in reporting and broken trust.

Don’t make assumptions about the level of independence or control a child or young person has simply by the way they present themselves to you and others.

Work closely with parents and families, in agreement with your safeguarding lead, and where it’s appropriate, work closely with families to understand and reduce the risk.

Know the signs and know what to do – use the checklists above, your safeguarding procedures and be confident in raising trafficking and modern slavery concerns with your designated safeguarding lead. Settings should refer to children’s services or the police, which are ‘first responder’ organisations and should follow the National Referral Mechanism guidance to assess the next steps.

Take action – and keep taking action until you know children and young people are safe.