Victims of human trafficking often left without assistance (06/09/2010)A major challenge in anti-trafficking work is to identify victims of human trafficking. Victims are not necessarily identified at all, or they are not identified as victims of trafficking. In such cases, victims are left without the rights to which they are entitled by law.
‘Unfortunately, the authorities are not always able to identify cases of human trafficking, even when victims themselves tell them about trafficking,’ says Ms Eva Biaudet, Ombudsman for Minorities and National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings.
So far we have been able to identify only a few dozen victims of trafficking. This is presumably only a fraction of the actual number of victims. It is possible that the authorities do not always interlink different aspects of cruel exploitation involved in human trafficking, and are thus unable to suspect trafficking.
Finland has, in a short period of time, adopted a considerable number of legislative and other measures to prevent human trafficking, to assist and protect victims of trafficking, and to combat human-trafficking offences. The measures taken have promoted Finland’s anti-trafficking efforts, but there is still a lot to be done.
As the national rapporteur on trafficking in human beings – a role assumed from the beginning of 2009 – the Ombudsman will now give her first report on human trafficking. The report is exhaustive, and it also meets the general need for information about the human trafficking situation in Finland.
‘I hope that the report will increase awareness of human trafficking on a larger scale and promote the realisation of the rights of victims of trafficking,’ says Ms Venla Roth, Senior Officer from the Office of the Ombudsman for Minorities.
In her first report, the Ombudsman aims to evaluate the functioning of the system for victim assistance, procedures relating to victims' residence in and removal from the country, criminal procedures and the application and interpretation of penal provisions from the perspective of how well authorities identify victims of trafficking. The report contains some thirty recommendations relating to both legislation and official practices.
The Ombudsman's role as the national rapporteur on trafficking in human beings is based on the Act on the Ombudsman for Minorities and the National Discrimination Tribunal.
The report by the national rapporteur on trafficking in human beings will be presented to Parliament today on 9 June at 12.00. The event will take place at the Visitor’s Centre in Pikkuparlamentti (Little Parliament), at the address Arkadiankatu 3, Helsinki.
For further information, please contact
Ms Eva Biaudet, Ombudsman for Minorities, tel. +358 71 878 8660, or
Ms Venla Roth, Senior Officer, tel. +358 71 878 8667.
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