Executive Summary

• Author: Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs (European Commission)
• Pages: 19-30

STUDY O N THE ECONO MIC, SOC IAL AND H UMAN COST S OF TRAF FICKIN G IN HUMAN B EINGS WI THIN THE E U19

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1 Introduction

The purpose of the Study is to measure the cost of trafficking in human beings in the European Union.

Trafficking in human beings is a particularly serious crime, driven by profits and involves a chain of actors who are

knowingly or unknowingly involved. “It brings high profits to t he perpetrators, who abuse people’s vulnerabilities an d

exploit the dema nd for the services provided by the v ictims. It results in long-t erm harm to its victims, our so cieties and

economies.”1 It is a violation of fundamental rig hts that causes immense harm to t he victims. It has economic, soc ial

and human cost s. The existence of traffick ing in human beings is a cost to the wider eco nomy and society by creating

need for public services, in diverting resources away from the legal economy, and in its effec ts on the quality of life.

The crime of trafficking in human beings2

Art. 2.1 of Direc tive 2011/36/EU (hereinafter, the A nti-Trafficking Direct ive) includes three constitut ive elements

of this crime: acts, means and purpose.The act is linked to the establishment of control over a person; it

consists in the re cruitment, transpor tation, transfer, harbouring or rece ption of persons, including th e exchange

or transfer of control over them. The means are the way in which control is attained: the threat or use of

force or other forms of coercion , of abduction, of fraud, of decept ion, of the abuse of power or of a position of

vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having

control over another person. The purpose is the exploitation of the trafficked person. The Anti-Trafficking

Directive cont ains minimum rules concerning the d efinition of criminal offences, including a non-exhaust ive

list of forms of exploitation: prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services,

including begging, slavery and similar practices, the exploitation of criminal activities and the removal of

organs. Other forms of exploitation can take place.

Consent: A victim may have “consented” to being trafficked but this consent is irrelevant when it has been

obtained by the me ans listed in the Anti-Trafficking Direct ive: threat, use of force or coercion, fraud, d eception,

abuse of power or taking advantage of a person’s vulnerability. This is also the case when a person who has

control over the vic tim has received benefits to surrender her to trafficker s. In the case of a child, trafficking

is punishable even if none of the above-mentioned means has been used to obtain his or her consent.

Measuring the cost of trafficking in human beings in a monetary form is done in order to improve the quality

of decision-making where cost-benefit analysis is relevant to decisions over the allocation of public resources.

Translating trafficki ng in human beings into a cost is relevant to pu blic policy concerning developing t he European

area of freedom, security and justice, and the Single European Market.

This Study is a key Commission ac tion to build a sound knowledge ba se for the 2017 Commission Communication

“Reporting on the follow up to the EU Strategy towards the eradication of trafficking in human beings and iden-

tifying further concrete actions”3,4 and the EU Anti-trafficking Directive5.

(1)European Com mission (2018b) Second repo rt on the progress made in t he fight against traffi cking in human being s as required under Article 20 of Direc tive

2011/36/EU on preventi ng and combating traf ficking in human being s and protecting its victims . https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/sites/homeaffairs/files/

what-we-do/policies/european-agenda-security/20181204_com-2018-777-report_en.pdf

(2)European Co mmission (2018e) Key con cepts in a nutshell.https://ec.europa.eu/anti-trafficking/eu-policy/working-together-to-address-trafficking-in-human-

beings-concepts-in-a-nutshell_en

(3)European Commissi on (2017a) Reporting on the follow u p to the EU strategy towards the eradicatio n of trafficking in human b eings and identifying fur ther

concrete actions (Co mmunication from th e Commission to the Eur opean Parliament a nd the Council). https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/sites/homeaffairs/

files/e-library/documents/policies/organized-crime-and-human-trafficking/trafficking-in-human-beings/docs/20171204_communication_reporting_on_

follow-up_to_the_eu_strategy_towards_the_eradication_of_trafficking_in_human_beings.pdf

(4)https://ec.europa.eu/anti-trafficking/eu-anti-trafficking-coordinator_en

(5)Directive 2011/36/EU of t he European Parliame nt and the Council of 5 A pril 2011 on Preventing and Combat ing Trafficking in Hu man Beings and Protec ting its

Victims and repla cing council Framework D ecision 2002/629 /JHA https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2011:101:0001:0011:EN:PDF