European Anti-Trafficking Day

Today is European Anti-Trafficking Day.

An important day for everyone being exploited in one way or another, because the issue gets more attention than on other days.

Sadly, at Društvo Ključ we find that despite a functioning system of help and support that lets people with experience of trafficking move to safety, recover and move forward in life, one crucial piece is missing — one that victims of exploitation want and need in order to recover: effective, successful prosecution of the perpetrators.

On European Anti-Trafficking Day, then, we want to draw attention to this: there are too few convictions of traffickers and pimps, even though the consequences faced by people who have lived through prostitution and other abuse and exploitation are lasting and traumatic.
There is still no prosecution of the adults who exploit children for prostitution in Slovenia. Many forms of labour exploitation and forced labour are poorly identified, or not identified at all, as trafficking, so there is no progress in that area. And among the many people passing through Slovenia to apply for international protection here or elsewhere in Europe are many, children and adults alike, who went into debt to pay for the journey and will have to repay it through various forms of work, by selling their bodies, or by being forced to commit crimes. Nor should we forget the children and young people who are still forced into marriage and who struggle to reach support.

Let today be a reminder of everyone who, because of their experiences, their situation and a lifetime of abuse, cannot help themselves or ask for support. And let it be a reminder to everyone with the levers to detect, identify and punish those who profit from the most vulnerable people in our society: direct your resources and your efforts towards successfully prosecuting perpetrators, so that it does not remain mere words that human trafficking must become an offence effectively prosecuted — and therefore no longer worth committing.