Statistics for the National Referral Mechanism in the UK, for third quarter in 2024 (July to September) includes a summary and breakdown of the number of potential victims of modern slavery referred into the (NRM) or via the Duty to Notify (DtN) process.
Key results:
- 4,758 potential victims of modern slavery were referred to the Home Office from July to September 2024, representing a 10% increase compared to the previous quarter (4,312) and a 15% increase from July to September 2023 (4,132)
- the number of referrals received this quarter was the highest since the NRM began in 2009, a slight increase from the previous record in the period from January to March 2023 (4,742)
- 87% (4,127) were sent to the Single Competent Authority (SCA) for consideration and 13% (631) to the Immigration Enforcement Competent Authority (IECA)
- the most common nationalities referred this quarter were UK (23%; 1,092), Albanian (11%; 523) and Vietnamese (11%; 514)
- 4,953 reasonable grounds and 5,188 conclusive grounds decisions were issued this quarter; the number of conclusive grounds decisions issued was the highest for any quarter since the NRM began, representing a 35% increase from the previous record in the period from January to March 2024 (3,838)
- 50% of reasonable grounds (2,500) and 52% of conclusive grounds decisions (2,705) were positive
- the Home Office received 1,501 reports of adult potential victims via the DtN process, the highest in a quarter since the DtN began in 2015 and a 6% increase from the previous record in the period from January to March 2023 (1,420)
See the full Home Office report here.
Statistics for the National Referral Mechanism in the UK, for second quarter in 2024 (April to June) includes a summary and breakdown of the number of potential victims of modern slavery referred into the (NRM) or via the Duty to Notify (DtN) process.
Key results:
- 4,316 potential victims of modern slavery were referred to the Home Office from April to June 2024, representing a 5% decrease compared to the period from January to March 2024 (4,521) and a 8% increase from April to June 2023 (3,992)
- 73% (3,142) of potential victims were male and 27% (1,167) were female; this was the second highest quarterly number of referrals for females since the NRM began
- 82% (3,521) of referrals were sent to the Single Competent Authority (SCA) for consideration and 18% (795) to the Immigration Enforcement Competent Authority (IECA)
- the most common nationalities referred this quarter were UK (26%; 1,135), Albanian (13%; 574) and Vietnamese (13%; 558)
- 4,515 reasonable grounds and 3,126 conclusive grounds decisions were issued this quarter; of these, 53% of reasonable grounds and 64% of conclusive grounds decisions were positive
- the Home Office received 1,172 reports of adult potential victims via the DtN process, representing a 4% increase compared to the period from January to March 2024
See the full Home Office Report here.
Statistics for the National Referral Mechanism in the UK, for first quarter in 2024 (January to March) includes a summary and breakdown of the number of potential victims of modern slavery referred into the (NRM) or via the Duty to Notify (DtN) process.
Key Results:
- 4,524 potential victims of modern slavery were referred to the Home Office from January to March 2024, representing a 9% increase compared to the period from October to December 2023 (4,134) and a 5% decrease compared to the period from January to March 2023 (4,738)
- 73% (3,291) of potential victims were male and 27% (1,226) were female; this is the highest quarterly number of referrals for females since the NRM began
- 80% (3,628) of referrals were sent to the Single Competent Authority (SCA) for consideration and 20% (896) to the Immigration Enforcement Competent Authority (IECA)
- the most common nationalities referred this quarter were UK (24%; 1,105), Albanian (17%; 791) and Vietnamese (11%; 493)
- 5,161 reasonable grounds and 3,893 conclusive grounds decisions were issued this quarter; of these, 55% of reasonable grounds and 48% of conclusive grounds decisions were positive
- the number of reasonable grounds decisions and conclusive grounds decisions issued by the competent authorities were both at their highest for a quarter since the NRM began
- the Home Office received 1,125 reports of adult potential victims via the DtN process
See the full Home Office Report here.
The National Referral Mechanism (NRM) is the United Kingdom’s system that identifies potential victims of modern slavery. Annual statistics for 2023, as well as the 4th quarter October – December 2023 have been released in March 2024. The increases in referrals to the NRM are likely due to increased awareness of modern slavery, as well as potential increases in exploitation. Major findings detail:
4th Quarter, October – December 2023
- 4,142 potential victims of modern slavery were referred to the Home Office, a similar number to the previous quarter (4,131) and a 6% decrease from the same quarter in 2022 (4,413).
- The most common nationality referred in the quarter were UK nationals (27%; 1,139). Albanian nationals were the second most commonly referred with 802 referrals (19%), with Vietnamese nationals third with 268 referrals (6%).
- Of the 4,142 potential victims referred, 48% (1978) were potential victims who claimed to have been exploited when they were adults, whilst 47% (1,945) claimed to have been exploited when they were children. Of these, 75% (3,097) were male and 25% (1,041) were female.
- Regarding the type of exploitation most commonly seen amongst referrals, the highest proportion of referrals were for criminal exploitation only (28%; 1,172). For adult potential victims, labour exploitation was most commonly reported (34%; 680), whereas child potential victims were more commonly referred for criminal exploitation (43%; 844). Though referrals flagged as county lines partly drove the increase in referrals for children within the criminal exploitation category between 2020 to 2022 (average of over 550 referrals each quarter), in 2023, the number of referrals flagged fell to an average of around 390 each quarter.
Overall in 2023, 15,247 reasonable grounds and 9,825 conclusive grounds decision were made. Of these, 55% of RG decisions and 66% of CG decisions were positive. The number of CG decisions was the highest annual number made since the NRM began.
The full Home office report can be found here, Modern Slavery: National Referral Mechanism and Duty to Notify statistics UK, quarter 4 2023 – October to December.
This month, British Institute of International and Comparative Law, with Human Trafficking Foundation and the Anti-Trafficking Monitoring Group released a report to assess the impact of the UK Nationality and Borders Act. After passing in April 2022, the provisions relating to modern slavery came into effect in January 2023. The report examines impacts over the last year on decision making outcomes, people with lived experience of modern slavery, and on organisations in the modern slavery sector.
As detailed further in this report, the Nationality and Borders Act made critical changes to processes addressing Modern Slavery in the UK, including:
- new definitions of ‘victims’ of modern slavery and human trafficking
- changes to the definition of the ‘reasonable grounds’ decision within the National Referral Mechanism
- the introduction of a procedure to exclude modern slavery protections on grounds of public order and bad faith
See here for or the full report Assessing the Modern Slavery Impacts of the Nationality and Borders Act: One Year On.
‘Re-trafficking: The current state of play’ is a new report published by the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, Dame Sara Thornton, and the University of Nottingham Rights Lab.
The report examines the evidence, data and literature on re-trafficking, and was commissioned in response to lack of emphasis on preventing re-trafficking shown by policymakers and government. The Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner states that the knowledge base on re-trafficking is largely anecdotal and as there is no agreed definition of re-trafficking there are further difficulties in attempts to collect and assess re-trafficking data.
The report declares that does not propose recommendations but highlights three areas to be explored further in order to better understand re-trafficking. Those three areas are:
- Establishing a definition of re-trafficking
- Addressing the lack of data on prevalence of re-trafficking
- Developing dedicated reintegration pathways for survivors remaining in the UK or returning to another country
For the full report, please see here.
You can also find the press release for the report here.
The Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) has published its third report on the United Kingdom.
The core recommendation of the report is that the UK should improve the identification of trafficking victims. The report notes the low level of convictions compared to the number of identified victims, and highlights the effect of the cuts to funding for the criminal justice system and the resulting insufficient resources. Therefore, the report emphasis that free and timely legal aid should be provided to victims of human trafficking, whilst psychological assistance
For the full findings and recommendations please see the report here.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) published a report titled ‘Leveraging innovation to fight trafficking in human beings: A comprehensive analyses of technology tools’.
The aim of the report was to carry out an analysis of the technology tools used to combat human trafficking in the OSCE region and beyond, with the goal to aid stakeholders in engaging with technology strategically, raising awareness about tools to help their work and inspiring them to pursue future innovation.
The report notes that human traffickers make use of technology to their advantage whilst the same cannot be said of those responsible for combating human trafficking. The report identified that although some resources are dedicated to investigating human trafficking as cybercrime, much less resources have been dedicated to exploring ways in which technology can be used in positive ways to combat it. The report also found there was little “awareness of existing technology initiatives in the anti-trafficking field, which increases the risk of fragmented and disjointed development and use of technology-based tools.”
Therefore, the report bridges the information gap in the on the use of technology to combat trafficking, whilst 305 technology tools and initiatives addressing trafficking in human beings were identified during the research for the report.
Please see the report for full recommendations to governments and organisations, as well as for the detailed analysis of how different stakeholders, including law enforcement, civil society, businesses and academia can take advantage of technology to combat human trafficking.
Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, Maria Grazia Giammarinaro produced the June 2020 report “The impact and consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on trafficked and exploited persons” tracking the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on the most vulnerable communities.
Most significantly, pre-existing vulnerabilities to trafficking have been exacerbated by the extreme social and economic impacts of the pandemic. These include:
- Poverty and unemployment
- Migration, in changes in migration status, those on the migration journey and new restrictive migration policies
- Lack of services provided to victims of trafficking and re-victimisation
- The disruption of global supply chains
- Trafficking and exploitation of children
- Risks faced by victims and potential victims of sexual exploitation
The impact of the pandemic has negatively affected existing victims, as well as increasing the risk of others being preyed on by traffickers. It is clear that the COVID19 pandemic will have long term harmful impacts on exploited and trafficked persons, however the full impact is currently unfolding at yet to be determined.
Find the June 2020 report on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on trafficked and exploited persons here. https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Trafficking/COVID-19-Impact-trafficking.pdf
A report released last year by the Freedom Fund and John Jay College gives some of the first reliable estimates in relation to how many children are involved in the adult entertainment industry in Kathmandu. It has always been known that a significant number of young people and children work in the adult entertainment industry in Kathmandu, but until recently no reliable estimates existed as to the true scale of the problem.
The study found that approximately 1650 young people under the age of 17 are working in the adult entertainment industry, making up approximately 17% of those working in the industry. The study also found 62% of workers were working in the industry before the age of 18. The majority of underage workers in the adult entertainment industry were found to be working in sexually exploitative environments and 99% were considered to be held in the worst forms of child slavery as defined by the International Labour Organisation’s convention.
The full study can be found
here.
