Monday

2nd Oct 2023

Majority of trafficked children 'are EU citizens'

  • In absolute numbers, Romanian nationals were the worst-affected, with some 2,315 registered as trafficked in 2019 to 2020 (Photo: Ira Gelb)
Listen to article

More than half of registered trafficking victims are EU nationals, with most sold off for sex, according to the European Commission.

"We can see that a huge majority of the trafficked children are EU citizens," Ylva Johansson, the EU home affairs commissioner, told reporters on Monday (19 December).

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Around a quarter are children, according to a European commission report.

Most of those are registered in Romania, followed by Germany and the Netherlands.

Along with women, they are "mainly trafficked for sexual purposes," she said, noting that around a third are trafficked within their own country.

"If you traffic drugs or firearms, you can only sell it once," she said.

"But if you traffic a woman, a girl for sexual purposes, you can sell her body again and again and again and again," she said.

In absolute numbers, Romanian nationals were the worst-affected, with some 2,315 registered as trafficked in 2019 to 2020.

Although sex-trafficking ranks the highest, the figure also includes other trafficking categories such as work.

Romanians were followed by French (1,202), Italian (904) Bulgarian (553) and Polish (518).

Tip of the iceberg

In terms of number of victims proportionate to the population size, Romania also ranks first, followed by Bulgaria and Hungary.

But Johansson described such figures as the "tip of the iceberg", noting that the crime has increasingly moved online making it more difficult to detect.

The EU commission now wants to impose mandatory sanctions against firms that help the traffic. Those mandatory sanctions will be folded into the EU's anti-trafficking directive, she said.

The commission also wants to extend the definition of trafficking to include forced marriage and illegal adoptions.

Another new rule will also make it a mandatory criminal offence to knowingly exploit a victim of trafficking.

Hungary, the Netherlands and Germany have adopted or passed laws that make it crime when the user knows the person has been trafficked.

Others like Ireland, France, Luxembourg, Slovakia and Spain are discussing it.

This also extends to people trafficked for labour, including construction workers.

"Maybe the person is not employed, but you'd use the services of a victim of trafficking and this will be equally criminalised," she said.

Most of those trafficked for labour are men, a figure that is also on the rise, says the European Commission report.

It noted that sexual exploitation made up 51-percent of the share of trafficking cases, followed by labour exploitation (28 percent). Other forms of exploitation include forced begging. Less than one percent involved organ removal, it noted.

Opinion

The overlooked 'crimes against children' ICC arrest warrant

An unprecedented component of this announcement has received less attention: the ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, Putin's commissioner for children's rights. Lvova-Belova is accused of deporting and unlawful transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia.

Opinion

Time for a reset: EU regional funding needs overhauling

Vasco Alves Cordeiro, president of the European Committee of the Regions, is advocating a revamp of the EU's regional policy so that it better supports all regions in addressing major challenges such as the green and digital transitions.

Opinion

How do you make embarrassing EU documents 'disappear'?

The EU Commission's new magic formula for avoiding scrutiny is simple. You declare the documents in question to be "short-lived correspondence for a preliminary exchange of views" and thus exempt them from being logged in the official inventory.

Latest News

  1. EU women promised new dawn under anti-violence pact
  2. Three steps EU can take to halt Azerbaijan's mafia-style bullying
  3. Punish Belarus too for aiding Putin's Ukraine war
  4. Added-value for Russia diamond ban, as G7 and EU prepare sanctions
  5. EU states to agree on asylum crisis bill, say EU officials
  6. Poland's culture of fear after three years of abortion 'ban'
  7. Time for a reset: EU regional funding needs overhauling
  8. Germany tightens police checks on Czech and Polish border

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  2. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators, industry & healthcare experts at the 24th IMDRF session, September 25-26, Berlin. Register by 20 Sept to join in person or online.
  3. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  4. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  5. International Medical Devices Regulators Forum (IMDRF)Join regulators & industry experts at the 24th IMDRF session- Berlin September 25-26. Register early for discounted hotel rates
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us