February 21, 2018
A new report by GRETA (Group of Experts on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings) finds that progress has been made in several areas, such as making changes to law so that the knowing use of services provided by a victim of human trafficking is now criminalised, while victims holding a temporary residence permit are now able to work legally in Slovenia. Other efforts include raising awareness of human trafficking among children, young people and migrant workers, in addition to discouraging demand for the services of traffickers.
Still, the report concludes by noting that more work is needed to ensure that current rules and procedures are actually applied. To this end, it calls for the police, social workers, labour inspectors and other authorities adopt a more proactive stance to finding and identifying victims of trafficking, in particular among asylum seekers and foreign workers, and especially with regard to labour exploitation, forced marriages, and forced begging, in addition to the focus on sexual exploitation. The reports also highlights the plight of child victims of human trafficking, calling for more efforts to ensure the safety of unaccompanied foreign children, Roma children and those involved in begging, noting that young people who have suffered in this way will need more aid with regard to education, training and integration.
The 51-page report, available in PDF form here, contains of a comprehensive presentation and analysis of human trafficking in Slovenia, and the developments that have taken place since GRETA’s first report on this issue, published in 2013.
In the period 2013-2016 a total of 119 victims of human trafficking for various purposes (sexual exploitation, forced labour, exploitation of begging) were identified in Slovenia, with trafficking charges brought against 52 individuals, although only 10 of these were convicted of related offences. In 2016, as the Slovenian government notes on its website “criminal offences of trafficking in human beings were investigated within the scope of five police investigations, dealing with 31 criminal offences against 15 suspects and 27 victims of trafficking in human beings. Criminal offences relating to trafficking in human beings for the purpose of sexual abuse are still the most common.”
