25th Parliamentary Intelligence-Security Forum – The Business Of Human Trafficking: Protecting Children From Global Criminal Networks

Rt Hon. Karen Bradley highlighted the pervasive and financially motivated nature of human trafficking, emphasizing that it occurs wherever trauma, disaster, or war creates opportunities for exploitation. She distinguished human trafficking as a coercive crime in which individuals are forced to work for little or no pay for another’s profit from human smuggling, which is often consensual and involves payment to facilitate migration. She stressed that understanding this distinction is critical for protecting vulnerable populations, particularly children, from global criminal networks. Bradley described specific UK challenges, such as “county lines,” where gangs exploit children in care homes to transport drugs and commit other crimes, as well as the abuse of migrant children and “sport trafficking,” in which talented young athletes are deceived with false promises of professional sports careers but are instead subjected to forced labor or sexual exploitation. She also highlighted the ongoing abduction of Ukrainian children by Russia, with an estimated 19,000–20,000 taken from their families, illustrating the use of trafficking as a tool of war and the urgent need for international intervention to reunite them with their families.

To combat trafficking, Bradley emphasized education as the first line of defense. Children must be taught to recognize risks, while educators, healthcare professionals, and law enforcement must be trained to identify signs of abuse. Breaking the business model of trafficking is equally important; traffickers generate an estimated $150 billion globally, funding criminal activity that harms society. Bradley concluded with a positive example: the initiative by Pacted, a consortium of children’s TV producers, which provides Ukrainian-dubbed programming on YouTube with messages on self-protection and guidance for displaced or abducted children, including those in Russia. She highlighted how technology, social media, and education can be leveraged to disrupt trafficking networks, protect children, and reunite them with their families.