Brussels, 15/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - Member states were swift to adopt this directive and at that time appeared very concerned by it. Two years later, only six countries out of the 27 EU member states have fully transposed the EU Anti-Trafficking Directive into their national legislation: Hungary, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Finland, Poland and Latvia. This paradoxical situation was criticised on Monday by Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmström at a press conference. The Swedish commissioner also deplored the increasing number of victims identified in the EU. This figure stood at 23,632 between 2008 and 2010, while the number of traffickers receiving sentences for their activities decreased by 13% over the same period.
Member states should have transposed the directive on the prevention and fight against human trafficking by 6 April 2013 but only six countries have notified complete transposition and three others only partial directive transposition (Belgium, Slovenia and Lithuania). Under the terms of the directive, traffickers will be pursued, victims will be provided with assistance and their rights protected as part of legal and prevention procedures. The directive also seeks to create a national rapporteur in every member state or an equivalent mechanism, in an effort to examine trends, compile statistics and assess the results of the fight against trafficking. Malmström said that it is high time that member states translated their commitments into action and adapted their respective legislation in this respect.
According to available data, the total number of identified and presumed victims was 6,309 in 2008; 7,795 in 2009 and 9,528 in 2010, an annual increase of 18% over the three reference years. The breakdown of victims by gender and age in the three reference years was 68% women, 17% men, 12% girls and 3% boys. The majority of the identified and presumed victims over the three reference years are trafficked for sexual exploitation (62%). Trafficking for forced labour (25%) comes second and trafficking in other forms such as trafficking for the removal of organs, for criminal activities or for selling of children follow with much smaller percentages (14%). The Commission notes that the majority of the identified and presumed victims in EU member states were from Romania or Bulgaria. The total number of suspected traffickers in EU member states decreased by approximately 17% from 2008 to 2010 and the total number of convictions for trafficking in human beings decreased by 13% from 2008 to 2010, a trend of serious concern to Malmström. (SP/transl.fl)