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Combating Human Trafficking TABLE of Overview of UNHCR Anti-Trafficking Activities in Europe CONTENTS

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Combating Human Trafficking TABLE of Overview of UNHCR Anti-Trafficking Activities in Europe CONTENTS COMBATTING HUMAN TRAFFICKING: Overview of UNHCR Anti-Trafficking Activities in Europe Bureau for Europe Policy Unit 2005 Combating Human Trafficking TABLE OF Overview of UNHCR Anti-Trafficking Activities in Europe CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................1 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................5 COUNTRY CHAPTERS ............................................................................................. 15 ALBANIA ............................................................................................... 15 ARMENIA............................................................................................... 19 AUSTRIA ............................................................................................... 23 AZERBAIJAN ........................................................................................... 26 BELARUS............................................................................................... 29 BELGIUM............................................................................................... 32 BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA ......................................................................... 36 BULGARIA……………………………………………………………………………………………………………...41 CROATIA ............................................................................................... 45 CYPRUS ................................................................................................ 49 CZECH REPUBLIC ..................................................................................... 52 FRANCE ................................................................................................ 56 GEORGIA .............................................................................................. 60 GERMANY .............................................................................................. 63 GREECE ................................................................................................ 68 HUNGARY .............................................................................................. 72 IRELAND ............................................................................................... 76 ITALY................................................................................................... 81 LUXEMBOURG ......................................................................................... 84 THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA ........................................................................ 86 THE NETHERLANDS ................................................................................... 89 POLAND ................................................................................................ 94 ROMANIA .............................................................................................. 98 RUSSIAN FEDERATION ............................................................................. 102 SERBIA-MONTENEGRO AND KOSOVO............................................................. 105 SLOVAK REPUBLIC.................................................................................. 114 SLOVENIA ........................................................................................... 117 SPAIN ................................................................................................ 120 SWEDEN ............................................................................................. 124 SWITZERLAND ...................................................................................... 127 THE FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA ............................................ 131 TURKEY .............................................................................................. 136 UKRAINE............................................................................................. 141 UNITED KINGDOM .................................................................................. 144 APPENDIX 1 ........................................................................................................... I Status of Relevant International Instruments APPENDIX 2 ......................................................................................................... III National Anti-Trafficking Legislation and Implementation Activities APPENDIX 3 ...........................................................................................................V Areas of UNHCR Involvement APPENDIX 4 ........................................................................................................ VII Abbreviations and Acronyms APPENDIX 5 ....................................................................................................... VIII Suggested Resources iii Combatting Human Trafficking Overview of UNHCR Anti-Trafficking Activities in Europe INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION UNHCR’s interest in the problem of human trafficking is essentially two-fold. Firstly, refugees are vulnerable targets for traffickers. Displacement and vulnerability linked to persecution, conflicts and involuntary displacement put refugees and internally displaced persons at greater risk of exploitation and abuse. To access countries of asylum in an environment of tightening visa regimes and border control, some refugees may resort to desperate and even illegal measures in their search of a safe country and of livelihoods and can fall prey to trafficking. In the present climate of migration containment and restrictive asylum policies, those seeking international protection may turn to irregular migration channels in an attempt to reach safety. Trying to find security by means of smuggling1 increases their vulnerability to human trafficking. Some victims of trafficking may only become conscious of the difference between smuggling and trafficking after departure or upon arrival to the destination country, when deceit linked to trafficking becomes readily apparent. UNHCR needs to protect persons of concern from the risk of human trafficking. Secondly, UNHCR is interested in human trafficking as a human rights violation, a crime against humanity and a war crime in the context of armed conflict. Some trafficking victims, in particular but not exclusively women and children, can be defined as refugees under the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees if they establish a well founded fear of persecution based on one of the Convention grounds. Victims of trafficking may qualify for international refugee protection if their country of origin is unable or unwilling to provide protection against further re-trafficking or as a result of traffickers’ potential retaliation when circumstances can be linked to Convention grounds. A claim for international protection from a victim of trafficking can thus arise in two distinct circumstances; where the victim has been trafficked from abroad and seeks the protection of the host state, or where the victim, having been trafficked within national territory, manages to extricate her/himself and flees abroad in search of international protection. In both instances, it is necessary to establish a well founded fear of persecution in addition to a causal link to one or more of the 1951 Convention grounds, i.e., for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. UNHCR is not the principal organization working on combatting the trafficking of humans. UNHCR is mandated to help victims of trafficking as they relate to international asylum. Efforts to combat trafficking in Europe are often implemented in cooperation with national governments, other intergovernmental organizations and non- governmental organizations. The Global Consultations on International Protection that led to the Agenda for Protection2engaged states and other partners in a dialogue aimed at improving the protection of refugees and asylum seekers and at guiding concrete action to this end. It revitalizes the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees in 1 Smuggling of migrants is defined in the UN Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air as: Smuggling of migrants shall mean the procurement, in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit, of the illegal entry of a person into a State Party of which the person is not a national or a permanent resident. 2 UNHCR Agenda for Protection, Second Edition, March 2003. 1 INTRODUCTION Combatting Human Trafficking Overview of UNHCR Anti-Trafficking Activities in Europe the evolving environment of refugee protection. Current patterns of displacement, mixed population flows and the growth of smuggling and trafficking of persons, the problems of safeguarding asylum systems against abuse and of excluding and returning those not entitled to or in need of international protection were addressed in the Global Consultations. The Agenda for Protection includes the goal of protecting refugees within broader migration movements, and sets the objective of strengthening international efforts to combat the smuggling and trafficking of persons. It advocates for national asylum processes that are open to receiving claims from individual trafficked persons, especially women and girls who can base their asylum claim on the grounds of the 1951 Convention. UNHCR has consistently expressed the view that women and girls who experience sexual violence or other gender-related persecution
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