Legal and Policy Context
This section outlines the key legal and strategic frameworks and policies that underpin our collective responsibility to protect children and young people from exploitation and harm. It includes key legislation, international conventions, and policy commitments that guide practice across Northern Ireland.
We recognise that engaging with this material may evoke strong emotional responses, particularly for those with lived experience or those working closely with children and young people affected by exploitation. In line with trauma-informed principles, this guidance is presented with care and respect for both the reader and the children it seeks to protect.
Our approach reflects a multi-agency commitment to prevention, protection, safeguarding, and accountability, and aligns with the Public Health Approach, as set out in Making Life Better – A Whole System Framework for Public Health (2013– 2023) This framework emphasises giving every child the best start in life, supporting parenting and family resilience, and enabling healthy, confident children skilled for life. Reference may also be made to the Health and Social Care Reset Plan, which reinforces system-wide collaboration to improve outcomes for children and families.
Finally, it is important to acknowledge the power and control dynamics that underpin exploitation, which intersect with wider strategies such as the Ending Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy and the Domestic and Sexual Abuse Strategy (2024–2031). Understanding these connections is critical for addressing the root causes of harm and ensuring responses are contextual, rights-based, and trauma-informed.
Why this matters
Understanding the legal and strategic context is essential for practitioners to:
- Act confidently and consistently within their statutory duties.
- Advocate effectively for children’s rights and safety.
- Collaborate across systems to prevent harm and respond appropriately when exploitation occurs.
- Navigate overlapping themes of safeguarding and exploitation, recognising the intersections between children’s rights and safeguarding and modern slavery and human trafficking.
- Understand that international conventions create binding obligations for states and state actors, imposing legal and ethical duties on governments and practitioners to uphold children’s rights and protect them from harm and exploitation.
Structure of this section
To support clarity and practical application, the material is organised into two interrelated themes
- Children’s Rights and Safeguarding – covering legislation and policies that uphold children and young people’s welfare, rights, and protection from harm.
- Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking – addressing frameworks that tackle exploitation, including Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE).
While these themes are presented separately for ease of reference, it is important to acknowledge that there are significant overlaps. Many safeguarding principles apply across both areas, and effective responses require integrated, multi-agency collaboration.
Children’s Rights and Safeguarding Legislation
The creation of the regional Safeguarding Board for Northern Ireland (SBNI) was set up in law in the Safeguarding Board Act (Northern Ireland) 2011. The SBNI is tasked with developing policies and procedures that enhance collaboration and coordination across agencies.
The Children’s Services Co-operation Act (Northern Ireland) 2015 places a legal duty on public bodies to work together in promoting the wellbeing of children. This includes supporting their physical and mental health, access to play and leisure, educational progress, and ensuring their living conditions, rights, and financial stability are upheld.
The Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 forms the foundation of the child safeguarding and protection system. It outlines the responsibilities and rights of parents, as well as the obligations and powers of public authorities to safeguard and support children and young people’s welfare. It provides the legal basis for intervention where a child is at risk of significant harm.
Article 17 and 18 of the Education and Libraries (Northern Ireland) Order 2003 places a legal obligation on Boards of Governors to ensure the welfare and safety of pupils. This includes setting out the measures a school must take to protect children and young people from abuse, whether it occurs within the school environment or elsewhere.
The Human Rights Act 1998 incorporates the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) into UK law. Key Articles relevant to safeguarding and CCE:
- Article 2: Everyone’s right to life shall be protected by law
- Article 3: Protection from torture and inhuman or degrading treatment
- Article 8: Right to respect for private and family life
- Article 14: Protection from discrimination
Ensures that safeguarding practices uphold children’s fundamental rights.
These rights underpin safeguarding practices and ensure that children and young people are protected from exploitation, abuse, and neglect.
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)
In line with Article 19 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), all practitioners have a duty to take proactive and coordinated action to protect children from all forms of harm, including exploitation, abuse, and neglect. This article provides a global safeguarding framework that underpins our responsibility to ensure children’s safety and wellbeing.
Article 36 reinforces the obligation of the state and its agencies to protect children from any form of exploitation that may prejudice their welfare. Practitioners must remain vigilant to signs of exploitation, work collaboratively across agencies, and ensure that interventions are child-centred, rights-based, and trauma-informed.
Policies and Guidance
The Co-operating to Safeguard Children and Young People in Northern Ireland (2017) policy provides the overarching framework for safeguarding children and young people across all sectors, including statutory, private, independent, community, voluntary, and faith-based organisations. It sets out expectations for how individuals, organisations and communities should work, both independently and collaboratively to ensure effective safeguarding.
The Children and Young People’s Strategy 2020-2030 sets out the Northern Ireland Executive’s vision and priorities for improving the lives of children and young people, including protection from exploitation. it is grounded in the principles of the UNCRC and aims to ensure that every child and young person has the opportunity to thrive.
Safeguarding Board for Northern Ireland (SBNI) Procedures Manual provides operational guidance for all safeguarding partners and outlines the actions that must be taken when there are concerns in relation to the welfare of a child or young person. The following policies can be accessed via this link:
Missing Children Protocol (Runaway and Missing from Home and Care) HSCB Police/SW
Protecting ‘Looked After’ Children guidance | Department of Health
Protocol for Joint Investigation - 2013.pdf
The UNOCINI Framework, supports early identification of a child or young person’s needs and risks to help prevent issues from escalating. It also serves as a tool for making referrals to Children’s Social Services and assists those services in determining the most appropriate course of action.
The key guidance in relation to Education Services in Northern Ireland Safeguarding and child protection in schools - a guide for schools (Department of Education, 2020).
Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Legislation
Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Criminal Justice and Support for Victims) Act (Northern Ireland) 2015
There is significant cross-over with the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Criminal Justice and Support for Victims) Act (Northern Ireland) 2015 and the Northern Ireland definition of CCE.
This Act provides the legislative framework for tackling human trafficking and exploitation in Northern Ireland. It criminalises a range of offences related to trafficking and exploitation, including those involving children, young people. The Act also introduces a Duty to Notify provision (not yet in force but expected to be implemented), which will require specified public authorities to notify the relevant body when they encounter a potential victim of trafficking. Importantly, Section 22 establishes a statutory defence for victims who committed an offence as a direct consequence of being trafficked or exploited. This ensures that children and young people coerced into criminal activity are treated as victims rather than perpetrators, reinforcing a rights-based and trauma-informed approach to safeguarding.
Making a referral to the NRM will become a statutory duty for First Responders once section 13 of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation Act (Duty to Notify) is commenced. Then it will be a requirement that First Responders MUST make a referral in compliance with the Duty to Notify”.
Section 3 of the Act defines exploitation of another person, including “that which involves using or attempting to use a child, adult at risk of harm, family member or a person who is subject to a position of trust to provide services or benefits of any kind, having chosen them on the grounds that they are a child or an adult at risk of harm and that a person who was not a child, or adult at risk of harm would be likely to refuse to be used for that purpose.”
The Criminal Justice (Northern Ireland) Order 2008 provides legal powers to prosecute individuals involved in the exploitation of children and young people, including offences that may arise in the context of criminal exploitation. It addresses serious crimes such as trafficking, abuse of trust, and coercive control, which are often present in cases of CCE.
The Justice (Northern Ireland) Act 2002 establishes powers and structures related to youth justice and community safety. It promotes diversionary measures and encourages multi-agency collaboration in addressing youth offending and underlying vulnerabilities.
The Terrorism Act 2006 key objectives are to extend and reform existing counterterrorism legislation, implement international conventions related to terrorism and enhance investigatory powers for law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
The Palermo Protocol (2000) Supplements the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime; establishes international standards for preventing trafficking, protecting victims, and prosecuting offenders.
Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (ECAT)
- Article 10: Obligation for states to identify victims of trafficking proactively.
- Emphasises victim-centred, rights-based approaches and multi-agency cooperation.
Policies and Strategies
Modern Slavery Human Trafficking Strategy 2024-2027
This strategy sets out a coordinated framework for government departments and statutory partners in Northern Ireland to tackle all forms of modern slavery and human trafficking. It includes actions to identify, prevent, and respond to exploitation, with recognition of the specific vulnerabilities of children and young people. The strategy promotes a trauma-informed, victim-centred approach and reinforces the importance of multi-agency collaboration in safeguarding those at risk.
This guidance aligns with wider legislative developments, including provisions within the draft Crime and Policing Bill (2025), which proposes new civil prevention orders for child criminal exploitation, enhanced powers to tackle cuckooing and measures to strengthen responses to child sexual abuse. These reforms complement existing safeguarding frameworks and reinforce the importance of multi-agency collaboration.”
NI Children’s and Young People’s Strategy 2020-2030
One of the key outcomes of this strategy is ensuring that
“children and young people live in safety and stability.”
This includes a clear commitment to protecting children and young people from all forms of exploitation. The Children and Young People’s Strategy (CYPS) Child Protection Group which comprises senior departmental officials and associated staff from partner agencies has recognised CCE as one of its strategic priorities. This reflects a cross-agency commitment to addressing the serious and complex harms associated with exploitation, and to ensuring that safeguarding responses are coordinated, evidence-informed, and child-centred.
While UNCRC and the Children’s Services Co-operation Act are primarily safeguarding-focused, they also underpin responses to exploitation. Similarly, the Human Trafficking Act, though focused on criminal justice, intersects with safeguarding duties for child victims.
Modern Slavery Act Non-Statutory Guidance
This guidance provides practical interpretation of what constitutes trafficking and modern slavery, drawing on the internationally recognised act/means/purpose framework set out in the Palermo Protocol. It explains how exploitation is defined in law and offers clarity for practitioners on identifying victims and understanding the elements of trafficking. Including this guidance reinforces the importance of applying international standards in local practice and supports consistent decision-making across agencies.
The Executive Programme on Paramilitarism and Organised Crime (EPPOC)
This Programme was established in response to a political commitment to address the challenging issues associated with paramilitarism in Northern Ireland. It includes specific commitments to support and safeguard children and young people who are at risk of exploitation by such groups.
Northern Ireland Affairs Committee: Committee Inquiry into the Impact of Paramilitarism
In its inquiry in February 2024 into the effects of paramilitarism, the Committee issued specific recommendations regarding how public agencies should address the exploitation of children by paramilitary groups:
- To counter the risk of romanticising paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland, it is essential that public agencies and wider civic society adopt language grounded in safeguarding and child protection when describing the actions of these criminal organisations. These actions include the abuse and exploitation, both physical and sexual, of children and young people.
- The Government (or Executive) should conduct a comprehensive audit of how effectively the current safeguarding framework in Northern Ireland protects children and young people who are being exploited by paramilitary or organised crime groups. This audit should assess the extent to which the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and other relevant agencies are utilising the powers available under the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Criminal Justice and Support for Victims) Act (Northern Ireland) 2015 in relation to CCE.
- Furthermore, the Government must work collaboratively with the Executive to develop an integrated strategy aimed at protecting children and young people from the harms inflicted by these groups. A key priority should be for the Government to engage with the Department of Justice in Northern Ireland to urgently agree on a definition of Child Criminal Exploitation that aligns with current Home Office guidance.