Every year, approximately 1,320 underaged girls fall victim to sexual exploitation in the Netherlands. This was reported by Slachtoffermonitor, a project that monitored victims of human trafficking between 2012 and 2016. They presented their final report to the National Rapporteur for Human Trafficking and Sexual Violence against Children on October 18, 2017.
“This is shocking”, states National Rapporteur Corinne Dettmeijer, “especially because only 11% of this group is visible to us. This means that there is a very big group of girls that we do not see and who do not receive the help they need. They will be traumatised for life.”
Trafficking becoming invisible
For the first time, the national rapporteur has made a reliable estimate of the size of human trafficking in the Netherlands, based on research performed in collaboration with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. To date, it was only possible to report on the number of registered victims. It now appears that the actual number of victims is over six times the number of official reports. Annually, there are about 6,250 victims in total. This number includes sexual exploitation primarily, but also involves labor exploitation, forced begging, criminal exploitation and forced organ removal.
In recent years, there has been a strong decrease in the number of reports of human trafficking. This is, however, no cause for relief: human trafficking does not occur less often, according to Dettmeijer, but is more often invisible, because of home prostitution or escort services. In 2012, there were 1,287 reports of human trafficking. In 2016, there were 952.
According to Defence for Children-ECPAT, this decrease has to do with the fact that police are less available to combat human trafficking. More and more resources are allocated to combat terrorism, while the victims of sexual exploitation could just as well be seen as victims of terror. The government agreement of 2017-2020 includes the expansion of police and justice capacity to address human trafficking. It is unclear whether this also applies to the Royal Marechaussee.
Based on the estimated higher number of underaged girl victims, Defence for Children-ECPAT believes that there is insufficient specific shelter and care available for these minors. The government agreement did not mention this, which Defense for Children-ECPAT finds highly worrisome.
What does Defence for Children do?
Defence for Children-ECPAT is committed to protecting children from sexual exploitation against children at home and abroad. According to Articles 34 and 35 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, all children must be protected against any form of trafficking, sexual abuse and sexual exploitation.
An important task is to monitor how governments fight and prevent sexual exploitation of children. Legal advice to minors and their caregivers is provided through the Children's Rights Helpdesk, and attorneys are supported in residence proceedings of foreign minor victims of human trafficking. Defense for Children-ECPAT, together with UNICEF, CKM and Terre des Hommes, lobby for better protection of minor victims of sexual exploitation.
