Human trafficking shooting high

This year until June, 115 new clients were admitted to the Assistance System for Victims of Human Trafficking, said the Finnish Immigration Service in a press release.

This number is more than 50 per cent more than that at the same time last year, when 76 new clients were admitted to the system. It was estimated that slightly less than one-third of the new clients had become victims of exploitation indicative of human trafficking in Finland.

The largest groups identified in Finland were victims of human trafficking related to labour exploitation (12 people), and victims of human trafficking related to forced marriage (12 people). In particular, labour exploitation was found in the restaurant business and agriculture.

Four of the 12 forced marriages were contracted in Finland. In eight cases, the marriages began abroad, usually when the brides were still underage. When the family escaped from their native country to Finland, the abuse was revealed through domestic violence. Shelters have played a key role in identifying victims of forced marriage and referring them to other services.

The assistance system has aimed to increase awareness of human trafficking by means of, inter alia, training pre-trial investigation authorities on identifying victims of human trafficking and carrying out the pre-trial investigation of human trafficking offences. By now, more than 1,200 police officers and border guards have been trained at the training events implemented through the IHME project.

The training programme has been found to work so well that the training co-operation between the assistance system, the Police University College and the Border and Coast Guard Academy will continue even after the project ends. From now on, all police and border guard students will receive the basic training on human trafficking created by the IHME project.

The assistance system represents Finland in the Task Force against Trafficking in Human Beings (TF-THB) of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS), through which it participates in producing training materials and training events for parties such as municipal authorities, prosecutors and representatives of the media.

The assistance system also participates in a project that investigates the possibilities of referring a victim of human trafficking moving from one state to another to services in the receiving state. In addition to the Baltic Sea states, Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria have also been participating in the project.

In 2019, a total of 143 people were referred to the Assistance System for Victims of Human Trafficking by the end of June, of whom 115 were admitted to the system as clients (as of 30 June 2019, 15 proposals were still waiting for a decision). The number has increased dramatically from previous years. For example, in 2017 there were 55 people accepted as clients during a similar period, and only 45 were accepted in 2016.

Most of the new clients had become victims of human trafficking outside Finland. The most common cases involved human trafficking related to sexual exploitation (33 clients). A large number of cases involving labour exploitation and forced marriages have also been identified. Two people had become victims of trade in human organs and tissues. They were held captive and drugged in their home country, and during a process that lasted for several weeks, one of their kidneys was removed.

On 30 June 2019, a total of 458 potential victims of human trafficking and 129 of their underage children were in the assistance system. All in all, assistance was being provided to 587 individuals. At the end of June last year, assistance was being provided to 379 individuals. This means that the number of people receiving assistance has grown by 55 per cent in one year.