On 2 December 2025, the Office of the Northern Ireland Executive in Brussels (ONIEB) was delighted to collaborate with the Department of Justice NI (DoJ) to host the second in a series of events focusing on supporting child victims of modern slavery, human trafficking and criminal and sexual exploitation. Following on from a successful first roundtable on the sexual and criminal exploitation of adults, participants were able to hear colleagues from the Department of Justice NI, the Police Service of Northern Ireland, Department of Health NI, International Organisation for Migration and Ulster University school of Law discuss how children are affected by exploitation and the challenges faced by the Government and the Police Service of Northern Ireland in combatting the issue.
Attendees were welcomed by Aodhán Connolly, Director, ONIEB, who introduced the panellists and offered a brief overview of the important work they do to tackle child sexual and criminal exploitation. Mark Goodfellow, Deputy Secretary of Safer Communities, DoJ, followed with an overview of the preventative work done by the Department in supporting and protecting child victims of exploitation. Mark expressed gratitude to ONIEB and the attendees, emphasising continuity from the July event and the importance of collaboration on this deeply challenging issue.
Panellists included: Colleen Cartwright, Modern Slavery, Human Trafficking & Child Exploitation Branch, DoJ, Jordan Piper, Detective Superintendent, Public Protection Branch, PSNI, Steve Mack, Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children/National Transfer Scheme Co-ordinator for Northern Ireland, DoH, who each highlighted a case study to illustrate the challenges faced by young people in Northern Ireland who are vulnerable to exploitation, followed by strategic overviews of their work in combatting child sexual and criminal exploitation and how the UK National Referral Mechanism operates in practice.
In the second session, Andrew Chisholm, Senior Project Associate NI Lead, IOM and Dr Gillian Kane, lecturer in Law, UU, delivered the findings from their research report which focused on identifying modern slavery and human trafficking in the context of child criminal exploitation in Northern Ireland.
Following an engaging discussion, the panellists and guests had the opportunity to connect and continue the conversation with each other during a networking reception.
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