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EMN Study: Third-country national victims of trafficking in human beings , , Detection, identification and protection
How do EU Member States, Norway and Georgia tackle human trafficking of third-country nationals? The study from the European Migration Network (EMN) maps the framework at EU and national level relevant to the detection, identification and protection of presumed victims.
Trafficking in human beings is a crime against the victim's fundamental rights. It can take several forms, such as sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery and servitude-related practices, as well as the removal of organs. This practice is prohibited under numerous EU and international instruments. Yet, persistent demand for sexual services and for low-wage workers employed in manual jobs continues to provide opportunities for traffickers to exploit human beings.
This study provides an overview of measures and best practices around detection, identification and protection of third-country national victims of trafficking in human beings in 25 EU Member States, Norway and Georgia from January 2015 to December 2020.
At national level, the main trends between 2015 and 2020 included institutional, policy and legislative developments. At EU level, it ranges from mechanisms for exchanging information and good practices to joint operations that reinforce collaboration between competent authorities, as well as specific ad hoc initiatives in response to emerging needs or challenges. At international level, several Member States cooperate against human trafficking with and within the structures of several organisations, such as the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) and the International Organisation of Migration (IOM). Cooperation is also pursued with third countries in order to ensure the safe return and reintegration of victims of trafficking in human beings. In response to the COVID-19 crisis, Member States adopted practical changes to the measures against human trafficking, for instance the use of hotlines, online learning to raise awareness of the risks of online sex trafficking and child exploitation, and digitalisation of the residence permit application process.
The comparative EMN study is only available in English.
The EMN Inform and the EMN Flash are short summaries and are also only available in English (see "Downloads" under "Further information"). The EMN Germany Paper provides a more comprehensive presentation of the results for Germany (see "Downloads" under "Further information").