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Trends in Security Information
The HSD Trendmonitor is designed to provide access to relevant content on various subjects in the safety and security domain, to identify relevant developments and to connect knowledge and organisations. The safety and security domain encompasses a vast number of subjects. Four relevant taxonomies (type of threat or opportunity, victim, source of threat and domain of application) have been constructed in order to visualize all of these subjects. The taxonomies and related category descriptions have been carefully composed according to other taxonomies, European and international standards and our own expertise.
In order to identify safety and security related trends, relevant reports and HSD news articles are continuously scanned, analysed and classified by hand according to the four taxonomies. This results in a wide array of observations, which we call ‘Trend Snippets’. Multiple Trend Snippets combined can provide insights into safety and security trends. The size of the circles shows the relative weight of the topic, the filters can be used to further select the most relevant content for you. If you have an addition, question or remark, drop us a line at info@securitydelta.nl.
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Human trafficking is a core activity of crime in the EU, and it is believed to remain significantly underreported
Trafficking in human beings (THB) The entire process of trafficking a victim currently features a number of online components, both on the surface and dark web. This development is set to become even more pronounced. THB is a core activity of serious and organised crime in the EU and is set to remain a threat to the EU for the foreseeable future. Sustained demand for sexual services will continue to drive the sexual exploitation of victims. Similarly, the persistent demand for low-wage workers employed in manual jobs, both seasonal and throughout the year, will ensure opportunities for labour exploitation. Trafficking in human beings is believed to remain significantly underreported. THB for labour exploitation in particular is increasing in the EU. Some victims, and in some cases their family members, suffer from serious long-term consequences such as drug addiction and mental health challenges. SEXUAL EXPLOITATION Traffickers abuse victims of sexual exploitation, both adult and underage, male and female, in clandestine settings and public environments such as hotels, bars, restaurants, sauna clubs, strip clubs, night clubs, massage parlours and prostitution windows. These premises are usually owned by associates or by facilitators of traffickers who also profit from exploiting the victims. Traffickers use online platforms and services to identify victims, orchestrate THB for sexual exploitation and advertise the services of victims. The use of websites to advertise the sexual services of victims to clients has become a fundamental feature of this type of exploitation.
It has been assessed that there has not been a significant increase in THB for sexual exploitation over the last four years. However, the sexual exploitation of victims of THB takes places in all Member States. The origins of victims of THB used for sexual exploitation in the EU are highly diverse. Victims of 55 different nationalities from five different continents were reported. These victims are mostly female, both adult and underage. They are typically recruited using false promises of well-paid jobs abroad, to escape precarious living conditions, financial instability and social and familial hardship. Exploiters increasingly seek to exploit their victims in the context of supposedly voluntary business agreements. As part of these arrangements, the victims agree to engage in prostitution and hand over a share of their earnings in exchange for protection and support. with administrative issues such as tax declarations, registration with chambers of commerce, or pension arrangements. This type of exploitation is particularly common in jurisdictions where sex work has been legalised. Traffickers frequently use the lover boy method to lure underage victims into sexual exploitation. They increasingly meet and recruit minors online, where the latter can be particularly vulnerable and accessible. The sexual services of exploited underage victims are offered on dating and escort websites, where they are usually advertised as adults(42). Traffickers also advertise child victims on dedicated websites where adults are specifically looking for sexual encounters with minors (known as sugar dates). Minors are often abused in clandestine settings such as pop-up brothels. However, some exploitation also takes place in public venues such as hotels, restaurants, sex, night and strip clubs. Violence and illegal drugs are used to coerce victims.
LABOUR EXPLOITATION Trafficking in human beings for labour exploitation involves any work or service which is exacted from any person under the threat of a penalty and for which the person has not offered himself or herself voluntarily. Labour exploitation occurs in various sectors of the economy. Some more loosely regulated sectors are particularly vulnerable. Victims are typically exploited as low-skilled, seasonal and cheap workers for transportation, construction, agriculture, forestry, food processing, factory assembly lines, hospitality, retail, carwashes, beauty and cleaning services, housekeeping and domestic assistance. The exploitation of victims of THB for labour will remain a feature of the serious and organised crime landscape in the EU for the foreseeable future. The persistent need for low-wage workers employed in manual jobs, both seasonal and throughout the year, will sustain opportunities for labour exploitation.
FORCED CRIMINALITY AND OTHER FORMS OF EXPLOITATION Traffickers abuse their victims for forced begging, forced criminality, the removal of organs and tissues and at times to obtain financial and social benefits using their identities. Female victims are also trafficked to participate in illegal surrogacy programmes, sell their newborns, conclude sham marriages and as victims of domestic slavery. As with other types of THB, the recruitment of victims increasingly takes place online. Victims are lured with false job offers, advertisements to marry strangers and offers to purchase babies or organs. Most trafficked victims are homeless, suffer from mental and physical disabilities, are single parents with children or are elderly. CHILD TRAFFICKING Child trafficking is a heinous crime targeting a particularly vulnerable section of society. The trafficking and exploitation of underage victims occurs across the EU and targets both EU and non-EU victims. Criminals traffic children under various types of exploitation. Female victims face sexual exploitation and forced marriages to adult men. Traffickers exploit children as domestic servants, or force them to beg, pickpocket, shoplift or sell items. Children are also trafficked and sold through illegal adoption schemes. Criminal networks comprised of both EU and non-EU nationals are involved in child trafficking in the EU. Trafficking networks involved in child trafficking can be divided into three main categories: • criminal networks sexually exploiting both adults and minors; • family clans abusing their children, or children of other families, and forcing them into begging, criminality and sexual abuse; • criminal groups that are mainly involved in other criminal activities and make use of vulnerable children, often of non-EU origins, to perpetrate crimes.
The structure of the criminal networks varies according to the relationship between traffickers and victims. As for adult victims, trafficking networks are mainly composed of members sharing the same nationality as the victims(43).