A UK born male child has been registered as a potential victim of child criminal exploitation for the first time ever in Northern Ireland as part of measures aimed at tackling modern slavery.
2024 was the first time that a UK born male was registered with the National Referral Mechanism as having potentially been involved in child criminal exploitation. A UK born girl was also referred to the mechanism which is used to identify victims of modern slavery due to fears she was being criminally exploited.
They are just two out of dozens of children referred to the mechanism last year in NI with others being subjected to sexual exploitation along with labour and domestic abuse.
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Northern Irish authorities have faced criticism in recent years for failing to tackle child criminal exploitation effectively, with the PSNI only adopting an official definition for the issue in September 2024. Child Criminal Exploitation is when adults coerce children into committing crimes on their behalf, such as drug dealing, with the term being linked in other parts of the UK to County Lines drug gangs and organised crime.
While the Department of Justice has argued that work has been ongoing to tackle CCE in Northern Ireland, saying the Executive Programme on Paramilitarism and Organised Crime has been leading the way in developing an evidence based approach, until last year no UK born children had been referred to the NRM in Northern Ireland for child criminal exploitation, while other parts of the UK have seen thousands.
According to UK Home Office figures, in 2024, alongside the two children referred to the NRM for CCE in Northern Ireland, there were 84 children in Scotland (49 from the UK), 182 in Wales (164 from the UK) and 2,613 in England (1,996 from the UK).
Referrals to the NRM can help authorities convict those who criminally exploit children for modern slavery offences.
In total, there were 43 children referred to the mechanism in Northern Ireland in 2024, with 28 of them originally coming from Somalia. There were 608 adults referred to the NRM during that period with three of them coming from the UK.
Someone can be refferred to the NRM for a number of different types of exploitation which are; criminal, sexual, labour, domestic and organ harvesting. In many of the cases, especially when someone is not from the UK, the person registered has been exploited in another country and only able to report the abuse when they arrive in Northern Ireland.
Youth worker Megan Phair of the charity Invisible Traffick said the referrals were a "step in the right direction" but warned there are still young people who are victims of exploitation who could be seen as perpetrators.
She said: "This is definitely a step in the right direction but the tip of the iceberg as we know the children and young people in our communities who are groomed and exploited into acts by organised criminal gangs.”
She added: “It is important to note that research indicates to us that young people who are 17-24 years old are exploited to deal class A drugs and therefore will not be protected by any CCE law but could be criminalised and charged as perpetrators of exploitation if forced to recruit other young people when they have been exploited themselves.”
A PSNI spokesperson said: "There is now a statutory definition of ‘child criminal exploitation (CCE)’. It is a form of child abuse which occurs where an individual or group takes advantage of an imbalance of power to coerce, control, manipulate or deceive a child or young person under the age of 18 into any criminal activity. The exploitation may be through violence or the threat of violence but may also appear to be transactional and in the context of perceived relationships and friendships. The victim may have been criminally exploited even if the activity appears to be consensual.
"Child criminal exploitation does not always involve physical contact. It can also occur through the use of technology and social media.
"The criminal exploitation of children and young people can include being exploited into storing drugs or weapons, drug dealing, theft, violence, intimidation, vandalism, forced labour and other forms of criminality through grooming by people that children and young people trust or look up to.
"All safeguarding matters regarding Children referred to the Police come through our Central Referral Unit (CRU) and are assessed jointly with Social Services. These will then be referred to the appropriate department within the Police Service for action.
"The Police Service of Northern Ireland has a dedicated Child Sexual Exploitation Team with officers based in each Trust area, with a single supervision model. We also have a dedicated Child Internet Protection Team. All cases are assessed with social services with the safeguarding of the child at the centre, looking at all forms of sexual exploitation. We review all data relating to crime involving children and ensure that an appropriate multi-agency response is provided.
"The Multi-Agency Support Hubs in Northern Ireland do however share a similar ethos in terms of information sharing to protect the vulnerable. The operational function of the Multi-Agency Support Hubs is to facilitate bringing key professionals together to allow better quality information sharing and decision making to work together to reduce vulnerability, with all partner agencies working together to ensure the best outcome for the individual.
"Since 2021, Multi-Agency Support Hubs are located in all eleven District Council Areas within Northern Ireland, with the most recent one in Belfast. Since October 2020 there has been a Support Hub Steering Group in operation, which is a non-statutory body. It was established to provide a strategic forum for all partners engaged in delivering Support Hubs.
"Internally we hold an interoperability meeting for all areas of police dealing with children to ensure an informed and joint up approach. Any reports / concerns or evidence of CCE is managed within these arrangements with partners."
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