School Workshops
Under our education programme, #
Human Trafficking and Online Safety Workshop, Applemore College, UK
“Our students and teachers found the workshops really engaging and interesting. High praise indeed!”
Heidi Kavanagh, Student Support, Mental Health and Wellbeing Co-ordinator, Applemore College
Human Trafficking and Online Safety Workshop, Mina Karadžić, Serbia
“The workshop had a great impact on our students! Even after the end of the workshop they had a lot of questions and wanted to share their experiences.”
Marko Blanuša, Primary school teacher, Mina Karadžić
Children recruited online
According to the National Crime Agency, 6993 potential victims of modern slavery were identified in the UK in 2018, a 26% increase on the 2017 total of 5,142. During this reporting period, potential victims of trafficking identified in the UK originated from 130 countries, with UK nationals remaining amongst the top 3 most commonly identified potential victims. These are often teenagers recruited online and forced into sexual exploitation and drug dealing. The identification of UK nationals being trafficked in 2018 in fact increased nearly 100% to 1,625 over the 2017 total of 820.
As mentioned, children are often targeted and recruited into exploitation through online platforms. Traffickers and child abusers will identify children and initiate conversations in order to earn their trust. Once trust is developed, children can be asked to send intimate pictures of themselves, which are then used to blackmail the child into meeting with, or continuing to send images and videos, out of fear of stigmatisation from parents, friends and peers.
In relation to online child grooming, figures show that in 2018, 3,171 offences have been recorded in England and Wales across 80 social media platforms. This amounts to almost 9 grooming offences on average per day. The cases showed that:
- Girls aged 12-15 were recorded in 62% of cases;
- under-11s were recorded in nearly a quarter of cases.
In order to prevent trafficking and online grooming, children and their parents need to be aware of how traffickers and child abusers target children online, and how they can protect themselves or their children from becoming victims.
How can we help?
Human Trafficking and Online Safety Workshop
We offer a free workshop to students, parents and staff on how to spot the signs of trafficking and online grooming, as well as practical steps they can take to help secure their online interactions.
The workshop covers the following thematic topics:
- What is modern slavery and human trafficking?
- What does modern slavery and human trafficking look like in the UK?
- How are apps, sites and gaming platforms used by traffickers to groom children online?
- How do I protect myself/my child from traffickers and online grooming?
- What should I do if I suspect trafficking or online grooming?
The workshops are delivered remotely or in-person by our trainers, using audio and visual presentations, case studies and interactive exercises.
Each participant will also be invited to use their mobile phone to participate in practical elements of the workshop. So, if you’re a parent, teacher or child safeguarding officer and would like to learn more about our FREE workshops then please get in touch!
You can download our School Workshop Guides here