76 human trafficking victims identified in H1

A total of 76 new clients have entered the Finnish Assistance System for Victims of Human Trafficking in the first six months of this year.

It has been estimated that for 30 of them the exploitation indicating human trafficking started in Finland, said a press release of Finnish Immigration Services.

Out of those who had become victims in Finland, 12 were victims of human trafficking for sexual exploitation. The number is considerably higher than that in previous years: during the entire year 2017, a total of eight victims of human trafficking for sexual exploitation were identified in Finland, and in 2016 the number was four.

According to estimates, the number of victims of human trafficking for sexual exploitation may in reality be considerably higher in Finland. For example, the Council of Europe’s Group of experts on action against trafficking in human beings (GRETA) has criticised Finland for failing to identify victims of human trafficking for sexual exploitation efficiently enough.

Out of those who had become victims of human trafficking in Finland, 10 were estimated to be trafficked for labour exploitation and four for forced marriage.

Almost a quarter of the 76 new clients (18 persons) became victims of human trafficking in their home country, although the exploitation may in some cases have continued abroad.

The majority of the 30 persons who became victims of trafficking in Finland were not Finnish citizens. Most of the new clients had ended up in circumstances that indicated human trafficking either after fleeing abroad because of the difficult situation in their home country or after moving abroad for a job or because of promises of a job.

Among the new clients were 29 persons who had become victims of human trafficking for sexual exploitation and 28 persons who had been trafficked for labour exploitation either in Finland or abroad. There were 11 victims of forced marriage, and eight persons were victims of exploitation that indicated some other type of human trafficking, such as forced criminal activity.