Introduction

Child trafficking has been noted to have a ‘lower profile’ than that of adult trafficking (Annison 2013a). However, numbers of recorded child victims are more than a third of the total of those identified in the UK by relevant authorities. Trafficked children have ‘particular vulnerabilities’, as recognised by the European Union (EU) Anti-Trafficking Directive, and this chapter will explore those specific needs and examine the UK's response to children who have been exploited. It will look at whether the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) works effectively for children and it will assess how current policy/practice impacts on this affected group.

Definitions and offences

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child defines a child as being an individual who is under the age of 18. According to the internationally accepted definition of human trafficking, child trafficking means the ‘recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons … for the purpose of exploitation’. It defines exploitation as, ‘at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs’ (Article 3 of the [Palermo] ‘Protocol to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons especially women and children’, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, adopted by General Assembly resolution 55/25 of 15 November 2000; see UNODC 2003).

A more expanded explanation of exploitation can be found in the EU Anti-Trafficking Directive (Preamble, para 11, Directive 2011/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 2011 on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims, and replacing Council Framework Decision 2002/629/ JHA):