Brussels: Poverty coupled with high cost of living is making Bulgarians and Romanians most vulnerable for human trafficking. The total number of identified and presumed victims was 6,309 in 2008; 7,795 in 2009 and 9,528 in 2010, with an increase of 18 per cent over the three years. The greatest victims are female who are being transported to rich EU countries for prostitution. As many as 68% were women while 12% cent were girls. Therefore 80% of victims were victim of forced prostitution.
European Commission confirms in its report published on April 15 2013 that majority of several thousand victims of human trafficking in the European Union were from Bulgaria and Romania and rich countries of EU have practically failed to transpose the EU anti-trafficking directive into their national legislation. Only six out of the 27 EU member states have fully transposed the directive while three have reported partial transposition of the directive. The deadline for transposing the directive was April 6 2013.
The report covered the year 2008 to 2010 period and was the first of its kind addressing the grave issue human trafficking in Europe.
As many as 23 632 people were identified or presumed victims of trafficking in the EU during that time.
The report also highlights that the number of people being trafficked in and to the EU increased by 18 per cent from 2008 to 2010, but fewer traffickers end up behind bars, since convictions decreased by 13 per cent over the same period.
: “It is difficult to imagine that in our free and democratic EU countries tens of thousands of human beings can be deprived of their liberty and exploited, traded as commodities for profit. But this is the sad truth and trafficking in human beings is all around us, closer than we think.
“I am very disappointed to see that, despite these alarming trends, only a few countries have implemented the anti-trafficking legislation and I urge those who have not yet done so to respect their obligations,” said EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström.
