Modern Slavery and Trafficking

The Modern Slavery Act 2015 categorises modern slavery as offences of slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour and human trafficking.  This includes holding a person in a position of slavery, servitude, forced or compulsory labour, or facilitating their travel with the intention of exploiting them soon after.  It is possible to be a victim of modern slavery within a person's own country and therefore applies to UK and non-UK resident children.

Trafficking is "the act of recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation" (from Article 3 of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children by United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime, 2000).

Whilst traditionally we think of trafficking as cross-border between countries, the prevalence of criminal and sexual exploitation means that children are often trafficked between locations within the UK (or Thurrock) for the purpose of being exploited.  Trafficking can be a feature of sexual exploitation as children are moved between locations of abuse.  It can also be a feature of criminal exploitation as a means of control over children who are moved to work (sometimes in isolating locations) to repay a debt (debt bondage) or in the sale of children as a commodity.

The National Referral Mechanism (NRM) is a framework for identifying victims of modern slavery and trafficking and ensure they receive appropriate support.  Only first responders (Children's Social Care and Police) can refer a child to the National Referral Mechanism, the form should also be copied to Essex Police at htms@essex.pnn.police.uk so that the police can build a more accurate picture of the referrals sent by all first responders.