ECPAT UK and Missing Children Europe look at how to better protect children in migration from trafficking and exploitation

The children's rights organisation ECPAT UK and the Belgian NGO Missing Children Europe have published a new report looking how to better protect children in migration from trafficking and exploitation.

You can read the 52-page report here.

The report was published as part of the Safeguarding Migrant Children Across Europe (AMINA) project. The project partners include the Home Office, the Belgian Migration Office, the Office of the National Rapporteur against Trafficking in Greece, and the County Administrative Board of Stockholm.

The AMINA project aims to close the protection gaps that lead to disappearance and exploitation of children in migration and contribute to creating an environment in which primary consideration is given to the best interest of the child.

According to the report, the European Migration Network says at least 30,000 children went missing after their arrival in Europe between 2014 and 2017, with the majority disappearing before filing an asylum claim or during the asylum procedure. In the UK, the report notes that 1 in 4 trafficked children and 1 in 6 unaccompanied children placed in care are reported missing.

The report states: "In the United Kingdom, there were 3,137 referrals of potential child victims of trafficking in 2018. Research has consistently shown that unaccompanied and separated children are vulnerable and often excluded from the protections available for all children, they face significant barriers accessing mental health care and are at significant risk of going missing. ECPAT UK and Missing People conducted research on missing children and found that 1 in 4 child victims of trafficking in state care went missing in 2017. The report also points out that almost 17% of the total number of trafficked and unaccompanied children reported missing had not been found. In addition, children encounter complex immigration, criminal justice and social care processes that they face alone, without independent support and with limited specialist provision. These risks are further heightened by lack of identification, inappropriate accommodation and lack of consistent support by a trusted and specialist individual. Unaccompanied children will also be at heightened risk of going missing and recruited into exploitation as they transition to adulthood; particularly those with a precarious immigration status. Fear of deportation and removal pushes young people out of the protection system, leaving them vulnerable to destitution, exploitation and abuse."

Overall, the key findings of the report are as follows:

• Few EU Member States have specific legal or procedural regulations regarding missing children in migration and practice may differ from the written procedures.

• There are legal and procedural gaps in protecting the child's information when cooperating across borders. Fear of breaching data protection regulations often deters authorities from information sharing, even though experts are clear that this fear is unfounded, especially if there are safeguarding concerns, as long as information is processed fairly and lawfully.

• Not all Member States have a guardianship system in place, and scope and quality differ across Europe.

• There is a lack of legal provisions and multi-agency cooperation in finding a durable solution for the child. EU Member States have not transposed the duty in the EU Anti-trafficking Directive to find a durable solution for children victims of trafficking into their national systems.

• Despite the high number of disappearances, there are few law enforcement professionals who have been trained in dealing with these cases, therefore signs of trafficking or abuse are often missed and unaccompanied children found in contexts that suggest they had been engaged in criminal activity are often considered perpetrators and not victims.

ECPAT UK and Missing Children Europe explain that the AMINA project uses simulations of cases of missing children in migration to test practices and procedures for multi-agency collaboration at national and cross-border level. The report illustrates the implementation and the results of the simulations.

In conclusion, the report says: "The simulations shed light on significant gaps in cross-border cooperation between professionals concerned with cases of missing or trafficked children in migration. According to the debriefing in the different countries where the simulations took place, the initiatives that were taken across borders were assessed as 'poor'. So were the initiatives taken towards family tracing and family reunification, whereas national cooperation was assessed as 'sufficient' to 'good'. The response to the trafficking or exploitation risks was in average assessed between 'poor' and 'sufficient'."

"It is therefore clear that efforts need to be taken to not only foster a culture of cooperation across borders, but to radically improve the way stakeholders cooperate by improving and setting up clear procedures, improving awareness of existing tools and coming up with innovative ones tailored to the protection needs of children on the move at risk of trafficking or exploitation.

"It is also crucial that necessary reception conditions and procedures are in place, systematic and harmonised, so as to ensure the wellbeing of the child is met and their rights are respected, and that prevention measures are in place."

The report makes 10 key recommendations and ECPAT UK and Missing Children Europe say that concrete examples of best practices and methods relating to the report's recommendations can be found in an accompanying 164-page handbook available here.