Modern-day slavery in focus.
HUMAN TRAFFICKERS 'USING MIGRATION CRISIS' TO FORCE MORE PEOPLE INTO SLAVERY
→ EU report warns that children have become preferred target for criminal gangs amid concern over thousands of minors disappearing from official view.
→ Criminal gangs are taking advantage of Europe’s migration crisis TO FORCE MORE PEOPLE INTO SEX WORK AND OTHER TYPES OF SLAVERY, according to an EU report on human trafficking.
→ amid growing concern over the fate of UNACCOMPANIED CHILD REFUGEES who have DISAPPEARED from official view SINCE ARRIVING IN EUROPE.
→ Almost 96,000 unaccompanied children claimed asylum in Europe in 2015, about one-fifth of the total number of child refugees.
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But at least 10,000 UNACCOMPANIED CHILDREN HAVE DROPPED OFF THE RADAR OF OFFICIAL AGENCIES SINCE ARRIVING IN EUROPE, the EU police agency reported in January.
*German authorities reported earlier this year that 4,700 children had been lost to officials, while up to
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10 children a week are reported missing in Sweden.
→ The report from the European commission, which will be published on Thursday
→ EU authorities registered 15,846 victims of human trafficking in 2013-14, including 2,375 children, but the report’s authors believe the true number of victims is far higher. More than two-thirds (67%) of people were trafficked into sex work; about one-fifth (21%) were put into forced labour, often as agricultural workers, a form of slavery that disproportionately affected men. The remainder of trafficking victims faced an equally grim catalogue of exploitation, ranging from domestic servitude to forced begging…
in Nigerian women and girls arriving in Italy from Libya. The Italian authorities have reported a 300% year-on-year increase in the number of Nigerian victims of trafficking.
→ Traffickers are increasingly exploiting legal migration routes by persuading non-EU nationals to apply for asylum or a residence permit.
More THAN TWO-THIRDS OF THE IDENTIFIED VICTIMS WERE EU NATIONALS, with the largest numbers coming from ROMANIA, BULGARIA, THE NETHERLANDS, HUNGARY AND POLAND. The remainder came from all over the world, with NIGERIANS, CHINESE AND ALBANIANS especially prominent.