Senior Europol officer warns traffickers are exploiting people’s desperation, forcing them into prostitution and slave labour
Vulnerable refugees trudging across Europe in search of sanctuary are being preyed upon by organised criminal gangs intent on forcing them into prostitution and slave labour, one of Europe’s most senior police officers has warned. “Modern, enterprising, organised criminal gangs go where the opportunity is high and the risk is low,” Brian Donald, Europol’s chief of staff, told an international conference on human trafficking in Madrid at the weekend.
Unaccompanied children are at particular risk, Donald told delegates including the Metropolitan police commissioner, Bernard Hogan-Howe, who said more had to be done by the UK to fight trafficking. Only 10 out 43 police forces in England and Wales have specialist anti-trafficking units.
The onset of winter is worsening the desperate plight of hundreds of thousands of men, women and children, many of whom are fleeing the civil war in Syria. As the European Union struggles to deal with the influx of refugees, their need for money makes them susceptible to unscrupulous gangs operating along routes, in refugee centres and in destination countries.
Migrants were being “identified for exploitation, especially those of a young age, young women, the unaccompanied”, with prostitution and illegal labour being the most likely outcomes, Donald told the Santa Marta conference, organised by the Catholic church.
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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/01/unaccompanied-young-refugees-europe-traffickers