Upstream Disruption of Trafficking Networks – Slavery and Trafficking Risk Orders: The Untapped Potential

This publication forms part of the EveryChildSafer Working Paper Series, Upstream Disruption of Trafficking Networks. Each paper may be read independently, but together they present complementary analyses of the legislative, policy and operational dimensions of Slavery and Trafficking Risk Orders (STROs) in the United Kingdom as preventive civil risk orders to disrupt transnational child sexual abuse and exploitation. Three papers examine the operational underuse of STROs, despite the existence of a mature statutory framework. They reason what the principal barriers are and argue why these are not legislative but organisational. They propose how to create the necessary change through a practical framework for embedding STROs within existing safeguarding, intelligence and law enforcement practice. This work was circulated in April & May 2026 to the United Kingdom’s Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and subsequently to commissioned academic advisers as part of policy engagement.