Situation report: Criminal networks involved in the trafficking and exploitation of underage victims in the EU

In Europe thousands of minors, from both EU and non-EU countries continue to be trafficked and exploited to generate profits for criminal networks and even more face the risk of exploitation. Europol increasingly receives information on trafficking networks operating across Member States, taking advantage of the vulnerability of children, to sexually exploit them, and to abuse them in labour exploitation. Other criminal groups place victims on the streets to beg for money, force them to commit various types of crimes, sell them through illegal adoption schemes and defraud the welfare state. Catherine De Bolle, Executive Director of Europol said: "exploited children in vulnerable situations deserve to be protected more than anyone else."

EU institutions, national governments, law enforcement authorities, nongovernmental organisations, and civilian associations, together with the private sector and all EU citizens, are called to prevent and fight the trafficking of children in a coordinated way, ensure protection and security for these most vulnerable victims.

Europol is on the front line together with EU Member States in disrupting international criminal organisations/ organised crime groups (OCGs) involved in intra-EU human trafficking and human trafficking from the most prevalent external source countries for the purposes of labour exploitation and sexual exploitation, including those groups using legal business structures to facilitate or disguise their criminal activities. Europol provides active operational support to investigators across the entire European Union.

The report (in PDF) is available here: link.



Submitted by admin on Mon, 2019-01-21 11:21.