In 2016, 40.3 million men, women, and children were victims of modern slavery on any given day. One in four (10.1 million) of these victims were children [1]. In the UK, British national children are the most common nationality among potential child trafficking victims identified, and one quarter of all trafficked children in the UK go missing from local authority care – a real concern when considering issues of child exploitation and trafficking, street-connectedness, and youth homelessness [2].
What are modern slavery, child trafficking and child exploitation?
Child trafficking was defined in the United Nations Palermo Protocol as the “recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt” of a child for the purpose of exploitation. [3] Children are recognised as being particularly vulnerable, which can make them an easy target for traffickers, who often recruit children with false promises of work, and by exploiting children and their families’ desire for a better life. Child exploitation is the act of using a child for profit, labour, sexual gratification, domestic servitude or some other personal or financial advantage [4]. Child trafficking can occur within a country or across borders, where the exploitation of children extends beyond country borders, making it a global issue.
Due to the fact that modern slavery, child trafficking and child exploitation deprive children of liberty and the right to be free from exploitation and abuse, in addition to often denying children access to education and healthcare, these practices constitute a violation of a child’s human rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child – the most widely ratified human rights convention.
Child trafficking and exploitation must be viewed within a wider context of factors which make children more vulnerable to these forms of abuse, and which enable or benefit traffickers. Therefore, preventing child trafficking and exploitation requires an approach which addresses and responds to the factors that make children vulnerable around the world – many of which are closely related to street-connectedness.
How does this relate to children and street-connectedness?
Trafficking, exploitative labour and sexual exploitation are some of the everyday experiences of children in street situations [5]. Many of the key push factors that result in children becoming exploited, or trafficked and/or street-connected are broadly the same.
Poverty and inequality: Children who are forced to work due to poverty are at greater risk of experiencing slavery and child exploitation. Equally, modern slavery and child exploitation can manifest in children being sent onto the streets to beg or shoplift, for example. The risk of both street-connectedness and exploitation becomes elevated in contexts with weak child protection systems, to the extent that street-connected children or exploited children often remain ‘invisible’ for fear of their own safety and security [6].
Discrimination and exclusion experienced by children in street-situations because of their street status is directly linked to their vulnerability to exploitation and trafficking. Exclusion from access to services and other rights as a result of discriminatory policies and systems can also push children to seek refuge in street situations. Similarly, unaccompanied children and children on the move because of conflict or natural disasters are vulnerable to ending up in street situations, to trafficking, and to exploitation, given that they have an uncertain legal status and may have limited rights and protections offered by the government in their host country. Street children who lack legal identity documents are more vulnerable to being trafficked given that undocumented children trafficked across borders are more difficult to trace or may lack access to a safe, legal route to migrate [7].
The sale and sexual exploitation of children is both a cause and consequence of street-connectedness. Children can find themselves in street situations as a result of escaping sexual abuse or exploitation in their home or by government authorities and those in caregiving or law enforcement roles. Once on the street, children are exposed to an even higher risk of sexual exploitation, sale, and/or trafficking, fueling a cycle of vulnerability and exploitation. In order to break this cycle, we need to address the underlying factors pushing children onto the streets [8].
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child emphasised the particular vulnerability of street children to violence and exploitation in their General Comment No. 21 on Children in Street Situations. Yet despite the strong links between street-connectedness and modern slavery, child trafficking and exploitation, children in street situations remain largely absent in international and national efforts aimed at tackling modern slavery.
CSC’s partnership with ECPAT UK
It is with this in mind that we are delighted to welcome ECPAT UK (Every Child Protected Against Trafficking) to the Consortium for Street Children network. ECPAT UK is a leading children’s rights organisation working to protect children from child trafficking and transnational child exploitation. ECPAT UK works to uphold children’s rights and ensure that children live a life free from exploitation, trafficking, and modern slavery by advocating to improve legislation and policy to end child trafficking and transnational child exploitation, to improve child protection responses of professionals, and to ensure children affected by exploitation are agents of change and part of the solution. ECPAT UK also provide direct support to children who have been trafficked, provide expertise in children’s cases, and deliver rights-based, practical training to professionals working with children.
CSC is proud to have supported ECPAT UK’s Stable Futures campaign to protect trafficked children in the long term. Victims of child trafficking, exploitation, and modern slavery, who have experienced trauma and abuse need greater stability in order to recover and rebuild their lives. Yet barriers faced by these young people leave them unable to recover, live stable lives, and plan for their future. They often face difficulty securing immigration status and have lengthy waits for immigration claims or other important decisions, and a lack of support when navigating complex legal and care systems in the UK. When children turn 18, what little support they were able to receive often abruptly falls away, leaving young people particularly vulnerable to exploitation and street-connectedness – either living on the streets, turning to the streets for work, or by being forced to work on the streets.
ECPAT UK’s Stable Futures campaign called for action so that child victims of trafficking, exploitation, and modern slavery can access the support they require and can be assured that they will continue to be supported as they transition into adulthood, so that they can live in safety and security. ECPAT UK called for the UK government to provide an independent guardian to all unaccompanied and trafficked children, and to establish a process to find a long-term, sustainable arrangement for each victim of child trafficking, and to provide these children with immigration leave that is based on their best interests.
Going forward
CSC is committed to ensuring that governments around the world are aware of their obligations to street children; that they recognise their rights and give them the same opportunities as every other child by adopting the UN’s guidance and establishing a national action plan for street children. Crucially, this includes ensuring they are safe from exploitation, trafficking and abuse, have safe spaces to learn and play and the support they need to achieve their full potential.
We are looking forward to working more closely with ECPAT UK, to ensure that street-connected children are included within the anti-trafficking agenda.
Written by Lorna Wightman, CSC Network and Communications Intern
Other resources:
References:
[1] International Labour Organisation, Walk Free Foundation and International Organisation for Migration (2017) Global Estimates of Modern Slavery: Forced Labour and Forced Marriage.
[2] ECPAT (2016) Child Trafficking Statistics. https://www.ecpat.org.uk/child-trafficking-statistics
[3] Un Palermo Protocol
[4] ECPAT UK https://www.ecpat.org.uk/definitions-transnational-child-exploitation
[5] Toybox (2018) Slavery and the Streets https://toybox.org.uk/assets/downloads/slavery-and-the-streets.pdf
[6] Consortium for Street Children (2018) Tackling Modern Slavery on the Street: Briefing Paper. https://www.streetchildren.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/APPG-Modern-Slavery-Briefing.pdf
[7] As above
[8] Consortium for Street Children (2019) CSC’s Submission to the Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Sale and Sexual Exploitation of Children. https://www.streetchildren.org/news-and-updates/submission-to-the-report-of-the-un-special-rapporteur-on-the-sale-and-sexual-exploitation-of-children/