This month, the Centre for Social Justice and Justice & Care released a new report 'Criminal Exploitation: Modern Slavery by Another Name'. The report found that "45% of all the victims of criminal exploitation referred to the Home Office were British boys, aged under 17 when they were exploited."
We are pleased to see the vulnerability of young men and boys being identified. Too often boys will get a punitive response, rather than their vulnerability being identified. We are proud to have been working with partners over the past 6 years on the MOPAC-funded Rescue and Response service, where boys and young men have been a significant focus of this work.
Unfortunately, the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) process is least likely to come to conclusive grounds in the cases of criminal exploitation - the International Organization for Migration (IOM) notes that 70% of people who were disqualified from receiving protection had received a positive reasonable grounds decision as a potential victim of criminal exploitation. Much work is needed. The same IOM article states that "women referred to the NRM as potential victims of modern slavery continue to wait twice as long as anyone else for a final (Conclusive Grounds) decision".
Let us not also forget that where there are young men there will be young women. In their families, their peer groups, their communities, and those directly exploited. No one has really lifted the stone to understand the full extent of how girls are impacted. It's essential that we take a contextual analysis and see the whole picture of harm for boys, girls and all children.
