Human Trafficking – Prevention and Victim Support

Human trafficking is a form of slavery and is acknowledged as one of the most severe violations of human rights. According to Europol, human trafficking affects about 120 000 people in Europe every year. There is no exact data of the scale of human trafficking in Lithuania. People are sold for sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, as organ donors, for committing crimes, forced begging etc. There are new forms of human trafficking as well, such as fake marriage, using minors for illegal fights or using women for surrogate motherhood. However, people are not always aware of the fact that they have possibly become a victim of human trafficking and thus not always seek for help. Moreover, they often simply do not know where to look for help or have lost hope that someone might help them at all.

Making the fight against human trafficking more effective should include not only revealing the crimes that were already done, but also introducing efficient preventive measures and integrated support for the victims.  This was discussed by the officers of the National Audit Office already back in 2005. Ten years later the National Audit Office has performed an additional audit of human trafficking and must regretfully conclude that the major issues of preventing human trafficking are yet unsolved — the preventive measures remain fragmented and inconsistent, while the victims of this crime do not receive sufficient support.  

State institutions are not obliged to contribute (to the extent possible) in seeking for the objective of strengthening the fight against human trafficking. The Ministry of Interior addressed 27 state institutions, asking to participate in implementing the measures aimed at fighting human trafficking, but an offer to join the preventive action was received only from the Police Department. The measures implemented by the police are not enough to eliminate the major conditions of human trafficking. Moreover, the choice of the measures was not sufficiently adapted to the specifics of crimes in individual areas. For example, the measure implemented in Kaunas district is aimed only at eliminating the conditions of human trafficking for prostitution, although more than half of the instances in the area are related to human trafficking for forced labour and crimes. In 2011-2014 more than a half of municipalities did not implement any preventive measures against human trafficking and did not manage any information about the statistics, reasons and conditions of this type of crime.  

There was no appropriate preparation to identify the victims of human trafficking, nor regulations on providing support after identifying one: there is no system of what institutions, in which cases, to whom and in what period of time should provide any information on the victim, also how and what kind of information should be provided to the victim, therefore not all victims of human trafficking receive appropriate help. For example, from 2012 to 2014 one of the non-governmental organisations providing support — Men's Crises Centre — received applications from 14 victims of human trafficking, asking for temporary accommodation. Accommodation was granted only to four of them, six victims found shelter with their relatives, while the fate of the remaining four remains unknown. Failure to provide temporary accommodations for the victims of human trafficking may result in insufficient protection, which increases the risk of becoming a victim of this crime again.

The National Audit Office, the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Social Security and Labour provided recommendations for creating an efficient human trafficking prevention and control system, ensuring consistent and efficient elimination of the major reasons and conditions of human trafficking, as well as providing appropriate support for the victims.