By The European Crime Prevention Network (ECPN)

Trafficking in human beings (THB) is a serious offence against personal and sexual freedom and integrity. It is often associated with legal and illegal migration flows, but this is only partly the case. It is true that irregular migration flows create a market for trafficking and exploitation, often connected to illegal migrant smuggling.1 This is why new migration flows, such as the arrival of many Ukrainian refugees in the EU, create a concern for the living conditions and the potential exploitation of migrants. On the other hand, half of the registered victims and three quarters of child victims of THB in the EU are EU nationals, with one third being registered in their own country.2 These are staggering statistics that indicate that there is a sizeable THB market within the EU that is independent of migration flows from outside the EU. The open internal borders of the Schengen zone have given rise to a specific pattern of regional trafficking that present a unique challenge to Europe.  

Brussels: EUCPN, 2022.  20p.