Recently, a five-day transnational coordinated operation against human trafficking covering 59 countries and regions was successfully concluded, with a total of 1,024 suspects arrested and 2,070 victims identified, 465 investigations have been launched. According to Interpol, which is coordinating the operation, the current trafficking routes and modus operandi continue to evolve.
From June 8 to 12 this year, Belgium’s Brussels Times reported on July 6, some 40,000 law enforcement officers from countries and regions in Africa, the s, Asia and Europe have joined forces to launch Operation Global Chain, and by Interpol, Europol, the European border agency tripartite coordination. Law enforcement officials focused on combating human trafficking networks involved in sexual exploitation, forced labour and crime and forced begging, with special attention to minor victims.
According to Europol, the operation resulted in the arrest of 334 people suspected of human trafficking and 690 suspects. Interpol said 1,908 of the 2,070 victims were adults and 162 were minors, most of them women. Most of the victims were sexually exploited, with 20 per cent forced to commit crimes, 11 per cent forced to work and 2 per cent forced to beg, the report said. Europol said the victims came from 45 countries and regions around the world, mainly in Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela, Nepal and Moldova. Many of the victims have been trafficked across borders and continents.
The BBC reported that Interpol, in its description of the operation, had mentioned that Brazilian police had broken up a ring that trafficked people into Cambodia. The group trafficked 83 Brazilians and 323 victims of other nationalities to Cambodia, where they were forced to participate in online fraud. One criminal gang dismantled by the Belgian side used social media to abduct and imprison underage girls, forcing them to work as prostitutes in places such as Belgium and France.
Investigators also noted a new trend of increasing numbers of victims from Latin American countries being trafficked to Europe and subjected to forced labour. Ten per cent of the victims were minors from the s who had been trafficked for sexual exploitation.
A combination of huge economic interests, weak border controls and complex legal obstacles has made human trafficking rampant in Europe. According to the European Commission website, human trafficking is often deeply linked to organised crime, including migrant smuggling, drug trafficking, extortion, money laundering, document forgery, telecommunications fraud and property crime, it has caused serious personal injury, social governance problems and economic losses. More than 7,000 people are still estimated to be victims of human trafficking in Europe each year, according to a report by the European Parliament, and the real number is likely to be much higher as many victims go undetected.
Some media said that the signing of the Schengen Agreement has greatly improved the lives of European people to travel, more than 400 million people can cross-border clearance without border inspection. However, criminal networks are also taking advantage of the open border policy. More than 70% of criminal networks involved in human trafficking have the characteristics of transnational operations, many groups are also involved in human trafficking, drug trafficking, money laundering and other criminal activities. In addition, according to Europol, different countries in Europe have different standards for legal definition of human trafficking, and there are also obvious gaps in sentencing, which is not conducive to the unified study and judgment of crime characteristics in the region and the sorting out of crime patterns.
Human trafficking in Europe is not controlled by a single group or specific individuals. Nigerian women account for the highest proportion of victims of human trafficking in Africa, with most forced into prostitution, according to Deutsche Welle. These smuggling operations are run by secret societies that are becoming more and more violent.
According to Euronews, the EU has taken a series of measures, including tightening asylum rules, simplifying the deportation process for illegal immigrants, and increasing penalties for people involved in human trafficking. The measures mark a renewed push by the EU to crack down on illegal immigration.
In a statement, Interpol’s secretary general said human trafficking remains one of the“Most lucrative and widespread” forms of organized crime, it generates billions of dollars in illicit income each year. The crime causes“Serious and lasting harm” to its victims, he said, the results of the operation“Demonstrate the effectiveness of national efforts to combat criminal networks and strengthen cross-regional cooperation to dismantle such networks”.