European Commission published an infographic on THB in EU

Check out the comprehensive infographic designed by the European Commission. The infographic gives a breakdown of human trafficking in European Union.

According to this brief summary, based on data from 2008-2010 given by Eurostat, 62 per cent of identified and presumed victims in EU are sexually exploited, 24 per cent became victims of forced labour and the rest 14 per cent are engaged in criminal activities, exploited to removal of organ, forced to beggary or become child victims of human trafficking. The greatest majority of them are female victims (68 per cent of all people). The main EU States of origin occurred to be Romania and Bulgaria. Moreover, China and Nigeria were identified as two countries of origin abroad EU. Taking into account estimations of the International Labour Organization, world region the most vulnerable for becoming a victim of this crime is Asia and the Pacific.

Human trafficking remains the 2^nd most profitable activity of organized criminal groups after drugs trade and gives the traffickers 32 billion dollars per year. The activity of most traffickers is focused on sexual and forced labour exploitation of victim. According to ILO data 880 000 people in EU are victims of forced labour, including forced sexual exploitation. What is more interesting from the victim’s point of view, the typical exploited person is usually recruited by acquaintances, relatives or criminal groups, often with promises of well-paid jobs. Among 1 603 prosecuted in 2010 in European Union, 1 339 were convicted for this crime.

Considering above-mentioned data, the European Union makes efforts to carry out it’s strategy concentrated upon creation of prevention mechanism to identify, refer, protect  and assist victims. Thanks to financial support of European Commission, Poland was engaged in realization of the project “Trafficking for forced labour and labour exploitation (FLEX)”, dedicated to increase knowledge, cooperation and exchange information in Estonia, Finland and Poland. The project focuses on developing a research methodology for future data collections on this topic.

It’s worth to bear in mind that trafficking is different from irregular migration or smuggling of irregular migrants. Once having crossed the border, a trafficked migrant is further exploited in coercive or inhuman conditions. Take a look at preventive clip about this modern form of slavery and don’t forget about the forthcoming EU Anti-Trafficking Day on 18^th October 2013.

To get more information visit the EU anti-trafficking website.

Tags: forced labour, European Commission, report, sexual expolitation, EU