Luxembourg in pole position in the fight against human trafficking
On the sidelines of the European Day against Trafficking in Human Beings, this Monday, October 18, the Minister of Justice, Sam Tanson (déi Gréng), received Casey Mace, Chargé d’Affaires of the United States Embassy in Luxembourg. The latter presented him with the assessment of Luxembourg following the publication of the “Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP)”, report published on 1uh last july. It shows that Luxembourg has been able to strengthen the effectiveness of its procedures and measures in place to fight this scourge. The Grand Duchy thus confirms its level 1 classification, according to the report published by the United States which concerned 188 countries or territories.
In this case, the report underlines the efforts made by Luxembourg such as the increase in funding for NGOs, the latter being declared of 461,500 euros in 2020, i.e. an increase of 102,080 euros compared to 2019.
Awareness campaign
Since the publication of the previous report, and following the recommendations, an inter-ministerial committee reached by the Ministry of Justice “has supported an awareness-raising and information campaign at European level, in particular through posters on the rights of victims and a leaflet to destination of the victims also containing the contact details of the assistance services which are at their disposal ”, indicates the ministry via a press release.
This Monday, October 18, the Minister of Justice, Sam Tanson, received Casey Mace, charge d’affaires at the United States Embassy in Luxembourg. The latter presented him with the evaluation report of the Grand Duchy.
(Photo: Ministry of Justice)
In addition, the interministerial committee, through the Ministry of Justice, met three times in 2020 to coordinate actions to combat trafficking in human beings. In addition, victims’ access to assistance services has been facilitated by the creation of a new common assistance area, called “Infotraite” and set up by the Assistance Service for Victims of Human Trafficking. (SAVTEH) and the Ozanam Center – human trafficking (COTEH).
“Their cost charge has been reinforced by the increase in human and financial resources made available to ambulatory and stationary services for victims,” the ministry further underlines. In addition, the interministerial committee also trained training for actors in the field “to better identify situations of exploitation”.
11 investigations opened in 2020
In terms of prosecutions, 11 investigations were opened in 2020, including four related to forced labor, one investigation into sex trafficking, and six other cases, were not determined to not involve human trafficking. .
“I appeal to the vigilance of our citizens to prevent or put an end to human trafficking, whether they are adults or minors, man, woman or child. Human trafficking is a criminal act and we have a collective responsibility not to let traffickers exploit the weakness and poverty of others, ”concluded Sam Tanson.
The full report is available on the
he website of the US Department of Justice
.
This article was written for
Delano
, translated and edited for Paperjam.