Trafficking in human beings

Trafficking in human beings is associated with serious human rights violations: lack of freedom, coercion, violence and massive economic exploitation. Trafficking in human beings takes place every day in Germany – in the care sector, in domestic work, sex work, agriculture, the meat-processing industry and the construction sector. Forced prostitution, forced labour, exploitation of labour, exploitation through begging, exploitation of criminal acts or the unlawful removal of organs are criminal offences. Affected individuals and groups therefore need access to protection and effective support. People who work in precarious conditions are restricted in their self-determination through coercion, violence or threats to such an extent that they can no longer make free decisions about their labour and are economically exploited. In particular, women who do not consent to sex work or do not agree to the conditions they are expected to work under also experience massive violations of their sexual integrity. Refugees, people with uncertain residence status and people in precarious employment with a lack of language skills and legal knowledge are particularly vulnerable and therefore susceptible to exploitation.

The various forms trafficking in human beings are all based on a common model: perpetrators place restrictions on other people’s self-determination and fundamentally violate their rights with the aim of exploiting them economically. The boundaries between exploitation and trafficking in human beings are fluid.

It is important to ensure that victims’ fundamental rights are respected once they have been identified, as well as before and during criminal proceedings. Human rights not only oblige the state to ensure effective criminal prosecution and prevention, they also set standards for dealing with those affected by violations.

Directive 2011/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims, known as the Human Trafficking Directive, came into force in 2011. It was transposed into national law in Germany in 2016. 

The Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings has been in force and legally binding in Germany since 2013. In 2019, the Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) reviewed the implementation of the Convention in Germany for the second time. The list of recommendations that the committee presented to the Federal Government has become longer rather than shorter since its first review in 2015. The priority recommendations in particular (see “Key concerns” below) have not yet been sufficiently implemented. A third evaluation was carried out in 2023. According to this most recent evaluation report, a series of urgent recommendations (“key concerns”) have still not been implemented

In November 2022, the independent National Rapporteur Mechanism was established at the Institute. Its establishment, organisation and working methods are based on an overall concept developed by the German Institute for Human Rights on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ). It also includes the concept upon which the National Rapporteur Mechanism on gender-based violence is run.