It happens here: Sex trafficking and slavery in NZ

Trafficking victim – kidnapped as a pre-schooler – calls for action and better help; Report details deficiencies in government approach to prosecutions and victims; Proposed law takes aim at trafficking, slavery, and supply chain exploitation.

“When you don’t have an anti-slavery commissioner, you don’t have a dedicated office to streamline the responses. The call I have after this is with someone who wants to find out if their experiences as a child constituted trafficking. And so that’s the reality – we don’t have that public awareness driven by a government office and campaign – which is where it should sit, given that these are crimes,” says our Deputy Director of Survivor Engagement, Synteche Collins.

ECPAT NZ believes the numbers of complaints the NGO receives is the tip of an iceberg – people do not report because they choose not to, think it will not help, or do not know who to call.