This podcast is a recording of a Modern Slavery PEC lunchtime seminar presenting the findings from a research project conducted by Ulster University and the International Organization for Migration UK (IOM UK), and co-funded by the Northern Ireland Department of Justice and the Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre (PEC) at the University of Oxford, which found that children exploited in criminality in Northern Ireland have not been recognised as victims of modern slavery, despite indications that they may meet the criteria.

Since 2015, only 45 people have been referred to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) in Northern Ireland as potential child victims of modern slavery that occurred in the UK, with only three referrals in 2023. Until this year, there has also never been a UK or Irish boy under 18 referred to the NRM for criminal exploitation at all in Northern Ireland, compared with nearly 12 thousand children identified for criminal exploitation across the rest of the UK.

In this lunchtime seminar, two researchers from this project, Dr Gillian Kane from Ulster University and Andrew Chisholm from IOM UK, present the findings from their research and discuss the way forward for identification of children exploited in criminal activities in Northern Ireland.