Trafficking - an introduction:

Human trafficking is a multifaceted problem that has troubled emerging democracies in the region of Southeastern Europe since the early 1990s.

Although estimations differ, there are sufficient indications that every year, several hundred thousand persons are trafficked within Europe. They are mislead, often sold and forced to work, and exploited in different sectors. Women are typically trafficked into the sex industry, domestic work or into forced marriages; male persons are dominantly trafficked into construction, agricultural or factory labour, but also into the sex industry, while minors are mainly trafficked into the sex industry, begging and domestic work.

The reason that slavery-like practices, such as trafficking, continue to exist in the 21st century in Europe, can, to a large extent, be explained by so-called push factors (root causes) and pull factors. The persistence of difficult political, economic and social situations in some parts of Europe, especially in the former Soviet Union countries and the Balkans, has exacerbated unemployment, inequality and instability, due to which people are pushed to migrate and find employment elsewhere. This situation increases the risk to fall prey to 'mediators', criminal groups or individuals who 'help' them to enter a country and arrange their 'visa and working permits' and then exploit them. Traffickers operate through nominally reputable employment agencies, travel agencies, entertainment companies, or marriage agencies.

 

 

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