On Monday 19 December, the European Commission presented a proposal to revise the 2011 directive on combating trafficking in human beings. The main changes aim to extend the criminalisation of trafficking in human beings to forced marriages and illegal adoptions.
According to the Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson, about 7,000 people are trafficked into the EU each year, but “this is only the tip of the iceberg”.
These are mainly women and children (1/4 of them) and most often they are exploited for sexual purposes.
The proposed amendments aim in particular to adapt the directive to the latest technological developments and new trends, such as the alleged increase in forced marriages in the EU. It is intended to address the fact that, at present, too few, “if any”, Member States have implemented this hitherto voluntary provision of the directive in their legislation, the Commissioner also explained.
The updated rules will therefore include forced marriage and illegal adoption among the types of exploitation covered by the directive. Member States will be obliged to criminalise these practices in their national criminal law.
An “explicit reference to trafficking in human beings offences committed or facilitated by means of information and communication technologies”, including the Internet and social media, will also be required.
Mandatory sanctions will be put in place against legal persons held responsible for trafficking in human beings. Penalties include exclusion from public benefits or temporary or permanent closure of the establishments where the trafficking offence was committed or prohibition from engaging in commercial activity. Such sanctions are currently optional.
“Currently, Member States apply criminal or non-criminal fines. While all Member States have in place such a response, only a minority of Member States have transposed all the optional measures, most Member States have transposed only some, and several Member States have not transposed any”, the Commission document explains.
Victim support will also be strengthened with better and earlier identification of victims. A European mechanism will be launched, based on national focal points.
Knowingly using the services provided by trafficked persons such as a sexual service or undeclared employment in the home of a trafficked person will also be more severely penalised.
Finally, the proposal also provides for the annual collection of EU-wide data on trafficking in human beings, to be published by Eurostat, and a link is made between this revised directive and the new legislation under discussion on freezing and confiscating the assets of criminal groups.
Link to the proposal: https://aeur.eu/f/4q2 (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)