Staying safe while fleeing: unaccompanied minors’ vulnerability to human trafficking in Europe and what protection measures have the states of Italy and the UK taken to ensure their protection from it?

Abstract

The thesis will look at the increasing danger of human trafficking that unaccompanied minors face on their journey to Europe, the relevant legal framework established to combat this issue, and the available protection mechanisms for unaccompanied minors from falling victim to trafficking in two European countries- Italy and the UK. The two aforementioned practices are respectively the successful guardianship system under Zampa’s law in Italy and the establishment of a national referral mechanism in the UK. They have been implemented on the basis of the legal obligations both countries have under UN and Council of Europe conventions applicable to this field, as well as the EU Anti-Trafficking Directive from 2011. They will be found to play a crucial role in the provision of further support to access asylum, education, housing and other services, as well as in identification of potential victims of trafficking. In this way it is argued that unaccompanied minors would be less likely to be subjected to trafficking in human beings.