BRUSSELS
EU member states have registered 30,146 victims of human trafficking in the 28-nation bloc between 2010 and 2012, a European Commission report says.
80 percent of the trafficking victims were women and over 1000 children were registered as victims of sexual exploitation during this period. 8,551 people were reportedly prosecuted for human trafficking in the Member States and over 70 percent of them were male.
Within the EU, a majority of the victims identified have EU citizenship and are trafficked within the 28-nation bloc, according to the report.
45 percent of registered victims were aged 25 or older; 36 percent were registered as aged 18-24, 17 percent were registered aged 12-17, and 2 percent were aged 0-11. Of the different forms of exploitation, the majority (69 percent) of registered victims were trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation, 19 percent for labor exploitation and 12 percent for other forms of exploitation such as the removal of organs, criminal activities, or selling of children.
The report, "Trafficking in Human Beings," the second such annual report, was released on Friday, one day before the 8th EU Anti-trafficking Day on October 18.
The EU aims to end human trafficking in its 2012-2016 strategy. ''We must continue our work tirelessly, in Europe and beyond our borders,'' EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, Cecilia Malmstrom,said at the EU Commission on Friday.''We owe it to the women, men, girls and boys who, as we speak, are being kept against their will and exploited in appalling conditions.''
The European Commission passed a directive on combatting human trafficking in 2011.
Policy priorities include reinforcing the criminalisation of human trafficking, and protecting vulnerable groups such as women and children in particular.
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