Note on terminology: In the UK, the term ‘modern slavery’ is used as an umbrella term that encompasses human trafficking, slavery, servitude, and forced labour. Even though human trafficking is deemed to fall within the scope of the umbrella term of modern slavery, the term ‘modern slavery and human trafficking’ or MSHT, is often used in UK policy and practice. For this reason, the study adopts this terminology, although human trafficking is deemed as one of the components of modern slavery.

P.22 When analysed in the context of CCE, it is likely the thresholds of both slavery and servitude are too high for much of the harm experienced by young people in Northern Ireland. However, CCE may, in some circumstances, fall within the scope of forced labour as defined in international law. For example, if young people are coerced to sell or transport drugs, under some threat of punishment, harm to family, or exposure to authorities, it may be that this conduct could be deemed to fall within the scope of forced labour. However, it may also be the case that some CCE-related activity may not fall within the definition of forced labour. For example, some criminal activity such as engaging in rioting, or even more infrequent engagement with the transportation of drugs, or shoplifting, may not always be viewed as “work or service”. For these reasons, as outlined, human trafficking for the purposes of criminal exploitation may be a more appropriate categorisation for CCE within the harms that in the UK are deemed to fall within the scope of modern slavery...

P.25 Paramilitarism and Organised Crime (EPOC)43 created a public awareness video which depicts a case of child criminal exploitation. The video charts a story of a young girl who explains that paramilitaries always controlled her community, it was all she had ever known. Then, “one day they gave me some gear”, which led to demands for money and an offer to “work it off”. The young girl then had to carry drugs for this group, including by pushing drugs in a pram (Ending the Harm, 2024).44 The facts of this simple vignette would likely contain both the ‘act’ and ‘purpose’ elements required to establish trafficking of children in international law. The act here is recruitment in that the young girl was offered ‘work’ from the gang (albeit to pay off a debt). The purpose is criminal exploitation, in that she was recruited to conduct criminal activities (i.e. transportation of drugs). While coercive means are present, they need not be established for conduct to amount to child trafficking....