Confirmed victims of modern forms of slavery, which can take the shape of sexual, labor, or other exploitation, reached 98 individuals in Cyprus over the last four years.
Human trafficking occurs even for purposes of adoption, marriage, begging, and committing crimes, with the most prevalent forms in Cyprus being labor and sexual exploitation.
Women are often lured by alleged partners who later force them into prostitution, often under the influence of drugs.
Persons with disabilities face exploitation for begging, enduring violence and subjugation.
These are findings from the Ministry of Interior, which yesterday released the National Action Plan for the Prevention and Combating of Human Trafficking and the Protection of Victims for 2023–2026.
During the period from 2019 to 2022, the Police identified 98 individuals as victims, including 24 men, 65 women, and 9 minors.
Of these, 33 were victims of sexual exploitation, 26 of labor exploitation, 8 of forced marriage, 12 of committing criminal acts, 2 of begging, 2 of illegal adoption, and 15 of combined sexual and labor exploitation.
The main nationalities of the victims were Egyptians, Romanians, Cypriots, Bulgarians, Cameroonians, and Nepalese. A total of 24 individuals were convicted during this four-year period.
Sexual exploitation and labor exploitation are the most common forms of human trafficking in our country.
Despite an increase in reports of potential victims, the official recognition of victims has decreased during the period from 2019 to 2022.
Concerns arise from the fact that there has been an increasing trend in human trafficking for the purpose of committing crimes during the four-year period.
However, since 2020, there has been a declining trend in human trafficking for labor exploitation and sham/forced marriages.
According to a memorandum from the Ministry of Interior, human trafficking is a complex, difficult-to-control, and organized crime committed by individuals or organized networks of traffickers and smugglers.
The goal is to exploit individuals, achieved through threats, violence, coercion, abduction, deceit, and misinformation.
Exploitation takes various forms, such as inducing individuals into prostitution, pornography, begging, street vending, forced labor, or work under inhumane conditions, coercion into committing minor/serious offenses, forced marriage, organ removal, illegal adoption, etc.
Forms of human trafficking:
Sexual exploitation: Individuals are attracted with the promise of well-paying jobs but are later compelled to work as escorts, waitresses, bartenders, and are then forced into providing sexual services, where they are controlled, their personal freedom restricted, intimidated, subjected to psychological and physical violence, and forced to hand over their earnings to the trafficker. Another method is the “lover boy” approach, where women follow their supposed partners, who later coerce them into prostitution. Victims are often provided with narcotics in these situations.
Labor exploitation: Mainly, nationals of third countries arrive in Cyprus for work in agriculture and livestock farming. Victims often do not speak the language well, have not signed any contracts, and are unaware of their rights. Traffickers do not regularize their residency status, hold onto their travel documents, do not pay wages, let them live in deplorable conditions and isolated areas, fostering fear in their victims that authorities will apprehend them.
Coercive begging: Perpetrators seek victims, especially among persons with disabilities or those with visible disabilities, to evoke sympathy from the public. Under various threats, victims are forced to beg and hand over the money they acquire to the trafficker. They experience intense psychological and physical pressure, live in inhumane conditions, and lack access to medical care or sufficient food.
Sham/forced marriage: The goal is to legalize the stay of third-country nationals in the EU through marriage to a European citizen. These individuals pay high amounts as the “price for a European spouse.” To recoup their money, the groom often compels the “spouse” to provide sexual services for money, becoming a trafficker themselves. It is not uncommon for sham marriages to occur with already pregnant victims, which provides an advantage in cases of interest for residency through family reunification.
