Project

Trafficking in human beings (THB) is a serious crime and major violation of individual fundamental rights and dignity. It is prohibited by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, and addressed through a legal and policy framework which places focus on the need for human rights-based and gender-specific approaches, given that its most commonly reported form within the EU is for sexual exploitation (67%), with the majority of victims being women and girls (95%).The illegal and highly isolating condition of women victims of trafficking often means that they are not able to exit the exploitative market, with two major repercussions on their well-being: on the one hand, being involved in an illicit activity makes them unable to access the labour market through legal means, especially in the case of third-country nationals; on the other hand, being under the strict control of their traffickers, or simply detached from the broader social system of their host societies, women victims of trafficking are also particularly vulnerable to a lack of either knowledge of or access to the rights they are entitled to and the services of support at their disposal.

Although the specific nature of THB differs between EU countries, the above-mentioned repercussions on third-country national women victims of trafficking are apparent everywhere. Perhaps due to the geographic vicinity with countries of origin in the trafficking business, countries of southern Europe report high levels of THB, while often lacking the instruments necessary to fully counteract the phenomenon.