New Delhi, 28th Oct 2013 (Bharat Sandesh News)::– A recent report from the European Parliament reveals a chilling statistic—approximately 880,000 people are in slavery across the European Union’s 27 member countries. According to these reports, human sex trafficking accounts for almost one-third of the total individuals in slavery in Euope, generating $33 billion in profit. These atrocities must be stopped – call on the European Parliament to enforce stricter punishments for human trafficking in the European Union.
Nearly one million human trafficking victims are being used as slave labour across Europe, according to a shocking report that will be tabled for debate in the European Parliament on 23 October.
Many of these European slaves are women and children, forced into sex trafficking. Others are domestic slaves, working in the homes of diplomats and the wealthy, particularly in France. Some are enslaved in the manufacturing business, making garments, while others work in the fields of Europe, planting and harvesting crops for landowners
The report, which was drafted by a special parliamentary committee investigating organised crime and corruption, says 3,600 international criminal organisations are operating in the EU and as many as 880,000 men, women and in some cases children, are the victims of forced labour and sexual exploitation.
Of the 880,000 modern-day slaves in Europe, 270,000 of them are being forced into prostitution.
Human trafficking is Europe’s fastest growing criminal enterprise and is an estimated €25 billion-a-year industry, according to the report.
The number of people being forced into slave labour conditions is reportedly on the rise in all 28 member states . Undocumented migrants, especially women and children, are most vulnerable to exploitation, according to the report.
The victims are often lured by criminal gangs under false pretences. They are then transported or harboured by force, coercion or fraud, and kept in exploitative conditions.
Last year, the European Commission published its first ever EU-level report on the statistics of trafficking in human beings. Based on data compiled for the years 2008, 2009 and 2010, from all 28 EU member states, this report says the majority (62%) of the victims in Europe are trafficked for sexual exploitation. Trafficking for forced labour (25%) comes second and trafficking in other forms such as trafficking for the removal of organs, for criminal activities or for selling of children follow with much smaller percentages (14%).
Most victims detected in the EU are citizens from Romania and Bulgaria. Of the victims who are not EU citizens, the majority hail from Nigeria and China, according to the commission, which describes human trafficking as “the slavery of our times”.
The fight against human trafficking is a “priority” for the commission. The EU strategy towards the eradication of trafficking in human beings, which was adopted in 2012, outlines a series of practical measures to be implemented over the next five years.
These include prevention, protection, support of the victims and prosecution of the traffickers as well as the establishment of national law enforcement units specialised in human trafficking.
How are these innocent people enslaved? Some are lured across international borders on untrue premises, while others are refugees, or those ineligible for refugee status who are desperate to leave their country, hoping for a better life in the European Union. Many are brought into the country by traffickers, promising them a better life once they pay their debt to them for bringing them into Europe safely. Little do they know their debt will never be paid off, with evermore being required by their trafficker.
Though the thousands of slaves in Europe come from all over the world, most of them come from Nigeria and Vietnam. Others come from African countries, China or other Asian countries, or South America. The European government feels that the problem is one of immigration and border control, however many innocent people are being made victims to slavery. Unlike the United States, where trafficking occurs as well, there are no harsh penalties for traffickers, and often the victims of human trafficking are made out to be criminals. Support the victims of human trafficking in Europe by demanding stricter penalties for human traffickers in the European Union.