Preventing human trafficking and exploitation: evidence review

Footnotes

1. These are labour exploitation, sexual exploitation and criminal exploitation. These evidence summaries are being published on the same day as this paper on the Scottish Government website.

2. See Scottish Government (2017) Trafficking And Exploitation Strategy

3. NRM data refers to potential victims identified by first responders. Entry into the NRM is voluntary for adults. It does not capture all victims of “modern slavery” in the UK.

4. Based on age at point of referral, not at point of exploitation.

5. Domestic servitude was out of scope of the focused evidence summaries and is therefore not represented in the figures and tables presented in this paper.

6. NRM statistics provide totals by type of exploitation where only one type of exploitation was involved, and where more than one type of exploitation was involved (combined figure). Please note that the statistics presented in the tables and graphs use the combined figures.

7. The three focused evidence summaries are published on the same day as this paper.

8. Critical appraisal is the process of carefully and systematically examining research to judge its trustworthiness, and its value and relevance in a particular context (CASP - Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (casp-uk.net)).

9. The UK Government uses the term “modern slavery” as an umbrella term that includes human trafficking, slavery, servitude and forced labour.

10. The WHO (2023) note that trafficked children and adults experience “high levels of drug and alcohol abuse, increased presence of mental health disorders (including mood disorders, elevated reactions to stress, depression, complex PTSD, self-harm and suicidal ideation, anxiety, alterations in attention and consciousness, and hallucinations), behavioural disorders (oppositional behaviour, conduct disorders, affect dysregulation and compulsivity) and moderate to severe prevalence of physical health issues including headaches, digestive issues, STIs and sleep disorders.”

11. Research addressing the intersection of health care and human trafficking in the WHO European Region is underdeveloped. More research is available for Canada and the United States.

12. The report defined prevention of human trafficking as including “not only intervening in trafficking and stopping it from ever occurring but also thwarting re-trafficking and supporting harm-reduction strategies for trafficked individuals.”

13. Such and Aminu (2024) have progress work on the prevention of adult trafficking and exploitation in the UK. Please see Such, L. and Aminu, H. (2024) The prevention of adult exploitation and trafficking: A synthesis of research commissioned by the Modern Slavery and Human Rights PEC on prevention of adult exploitation and trafficking (University of Nottingham). This report was published in November 2024 and so out with the timeframe of this review.

14. Scottish Government (2022) Getting it right for every child (GIRFEC): policy statement; Scottish Government (2023) National Guidance for Child Protection in Scotland 2021 - updated 2023

15. To support the Local Government Association’s updated council guide to tackling modern slavery, the LGA has developed a maturity matrix. The matrix provides a framework for assessing progress and planning future activity on modern slavery.

16. Celiksoy et al. (2024) identified existing interventions and initiatives relevant to early identification and prevention of child modern slavery in the UK. The review provides information on intervention location, funding and focus but did not provide information on evaluation or the effectiveness of the interventions.

17. Walk Free Foundation notes that evaluations may have been missed in ‘Promising Practices’ database, for example, those which are housed on individual civil society websites, evaluations which are not publicly available, or evaluations in languages other than English.

18. Human trafficking laws in the UK make provision for the non-prosecution of trafficked persons who may have committed a criminal offence as a result of their exploitation, but there are substantial differences in the way each jurisdiction has approached this.

19. In Scotland, Trafficking and Exploitation Prevention Orders (TEPOs) impose restrictions on people who have been convicted of trafficking and exploitation offences. Trafficking and Exploitation Risk orders (TEROs) can be used where there is strong suspicion there is a risk someone may commit a trafficking or exploitation offence. For more info see https://www.gov.scot/policies/human-trafficking/punishment-and-prevention-of-trafficking/

20. A public health approach does not need to be led by public health teams or the health sector.

21. National Referral Mechanism (NRM) is the UK framework for identifying and referring potential victims of human trafficking, slavery, servitude and forced or compulsory labour and ensuring they receive appropriate support.

22. Specifically in countries such as India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Indonesia.

23. Human Trafficking Foundation, Slavery and Trafficking Survivor Care Standards Update Overview

24. Celiksoy et al., 2024 note the following: “while CYA may be reluctant to share information, by asking professionally curious questions to explore how the CYA spends their time and with whom, and monitoring the movement of CYA, agencies can create a picture of the exploitation and the perpetrators, and create a support package to safeguard that CYA.”

25. MSCOS was developed through three rapid systematic literature reviews, 46 primary interviews with survivors of human trafficking and modern slavery, three stakeholder workshops, and a three-part international consensus building process through the E-Delphi method.

26. These seven are the minimum set of standard outcomes. There are 38 outcomes in the final report which can be used in the design and assessment of interventions.