Stolen Futures

The primary purpose of this study is to determine if forced child marriage can be defined as child trafficking when certain pre-conditions are met. ECPAT UK has used the international definition of trafficking from the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (2000) 2, also called the Palermo Protocol. The objective has been to explore the concept of exploitation and how this relates to the experience of children and young people forced into marriage. In order to analyse this relationship, the report: ? Uses a human rights-based framework to analyse and develop a conceptual understanding of forced child marriage and its relationship to child trafficking; ? Seeks to determine the nature of forced marriage cases of British born and migrant children that have been encountered by local authority social services, educational authorities, health services, police and non-governmental organisations (NGOs); ? Identifies awareness and examines how forced child marriage cases were dealt with by agencies; ? Examines the extent of multi-agency working. The study is not intended to indicate prevalence since at this stage robust quantitative data is not available but to explore conceptual linkages and dilemmas and to consider gaps and barriers within services available to victims of trafficking for forced child marriage. It was felt that a qualitative methodology would be best suited to the study both to draw out information within case studies and investigate how and why safeguarding and service provision gaps still exist.