Terrifying! Hungary listed among the main targets of human trafficking

The primary victims of human trafficking are young girls, who are being forced into prostitution. Even though this type of criminal activity is common in Europe, the majority of cases cannot be detected by the police, and only 1% of the illegal income is seized from the criminal groups.

Within the framework of the meeting realised by two committees of the European Parliament – the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and the Committee on Women’s Affairs – it has been revealed that the number of victims of human trafficking is tough to determine precisely. As the Hungarian news portal hvg reports, the number of proven kidnappings – based on police investigation – is 10-12,000 per year, while the realistic number is estimated much more, about 250,000.

The majority of the victims – 90% – are women or young girls who are sexually abused and forced into prostitution.

According to Soraya Rodriguez, Social Democrat MEP, human trafficking can become more widespread due to three main factors:

• the lack of punishment,
• economic gain as one of the most important motivations of the criminals,
• and the vulnerability of victims.

Jari Liukku, head of Europol, the EU’s investigative body, drew attention to the fact that 70% of abduction victims are EU citizens.

He named six Eastern European countries, including Hungary, from which women are most often kidnapped and forced into prostitution in Western Europe.

The police officer talked about the critical role of cross-border police cooperation in the Member States, which is largely supported by Europol with its own resources. Investigations should focus on “high-risk organised criminal groups”. Jari Liukku added that revenues should be targeted primarily as the primary driver of criminal organisations; however, currently, only 1% of that money can be confiscated by the police.