When the German authorities offered her a name change to prevent her from being located again by the mafia that had been exploiting her, she chose to be called Esperanza. At the age of 14, she was sent by her family from Colombia to Spain to visit an uncle of hers who had been residing in Madrid for some time. But immediately after arriving she was handed over to a brothel to settle a debt owed by her family member. Possibly it was the fact that the Spanish police were getting too close that was the reason she was taken to Germany, in a van with two other girls who she was not allowed to speak to during the day and a half trip. Months later she managed to escape, during a visit to a clinic where she was going to have an abortion. Related News report Yes Marrying minor children against their will: a form of trafficking that emerges in Spain Érika Montañés A “secret” told by a 12-year-old girl to her friends saved her from a destiny manipulated by her parents. It is the tip of the iceberg of an “invisible” crime in Spain. Now he resides in a foster home, along with his daughter, a new identity and the desire to, one day, open a hair salon. Her case fits the average profile of trafficked girls, whose number is increasing alarmingly according to the latest report from the United Nations Agency on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). 25,000 children involved In 2022, the Vienna-based agency documented a total of 75,000 human trafficking cases, of which 25,000 involved children. This represents a 25% increase in child trafficking compared to the years before the pandemic. The agency recognizes that this is only the tip of the iceberg and that most cases, presumably, never fall under the radar of authorities. But it is extrapolated data that allows us to get an idea of the increase in this type of exploitation, whose victims are fundamentally girls. The data comes from 156 countries and indicates that ongoing conflicts and migratory phenomena are its breeding ground. The report identifies almost 440 different routes for transnational human trafficking, which although they continue to come mostly from Africa, more arrive every day from the American continent. In three out of four cases, organized crime gangs are responsible for trafficking. Girls and women who are forced into prostitution or have to work for online scammers who exploit their victims through erotic and dating websites are the most affected. “This is the reality hidden behind many pornography websites,” denounces Beate Woidcke, a volunteer at a Berlin shelter for victims who manage to escape the system and whose location is kept secret to protect them. Women and girlsThe report concludes that women and girls continue to be the majority of victims detected worldwide (61% in 2022). The majority of girl victims, 60% of those detected, are trafficked for sexual exploitation. Around 45% of detected minors are trafficked for forced labor and another 47% are exploited for other purposes, such as forced crime or begging. Trafficking for the purposes of forced crime, including online scams, is also growing worryingly and is now in third place: it has gone from representing 1% of the total in 2016 to 8% in 2022. «There are always cases in which Companies that officially appear legal are actually involved in human trafficking and this especially affects sectors such as construction, fishing, agriculture and recruitment agencies, which often serve as a cover for these activities,” warns Angela Me, expert of the UNODC, “the business has become more complex to overcome the filters.” “It is a crime that often remains invisible, it happens downstairs, in the house next door, and for the police it is very difficult due to the lack of complaints and corruption,” explains Naile Tanış from the German Rights Institute. Human Rights, which recalls that, “in Germany alone, three cases are detected every day and the number of unreported cases is probably much higher.” Human traffickers take advantage of the helplessness of minor victims and, later, the shame of the affected, which is an instrument of power that should not be underestimated. “Those who finally manage to leave the farm often face another odyssey, often without documentation, illegally in the country and under enormous pressure to immediately provide information to the authorities,” he describes. Forced labor in the meat industry In recent years years, and as a result of the lack of workers for many sectors in Europe, an increase in human trafficking for forced labor, in slavery, has also been detected in sectors such as the meat processing industry. nursing, agriculture, catering and construction. All of these areas have something in common: they are highly staff-intensive and have low hiring requirements. The tactics used by the perpetrators are very different. There are cases in which foreign people are sold against their will and others agree voluntarily in exchange for false promises. «They respond to apparently attractive job offers that do not mention the 72-hour work week, the withdrawal of their documentation upon arrival and mistreatment. Then, if they try to leave that job, they are threatened with harm to their families in their countries of origin.
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