Trafficking / Smuggling

Le village de Lojane, collé à la frontière entre la Macédoine et la Serbie, occupe depuis deux ans une position centrale sur la longue route menant vers l’espace Schengen. Ici, les migrants arrivent de Grèce. La plupart tentent de passer en Serbie, mais certains choisissent une « route alternative » par le Kosovo et le Monténégro. Cet été, chaque soir, plusieurs centaines de nouveaux venus arrivaient dans la « jungle » de Lojane.

When French police broke up a Nigerian human trafficking ring that allegedly forced young migrant women into prostitution, the arrests cast a sharp light on the plight of what the authorities called “modern-day slaves”, here and throughout Europe.

Following the operation last month, police said that the criminal ring had trafficked young Nigerian women into France via Italy, and that the women were forced into prostitution to pay off thousands of euros in so-called debts to those who had arranged their smuggling.

On most nights, Nara* was allowed to sleep no more than a few hours before he was forced to resume his gruelling routine of casting nets, sorting the catch and mending damaged nets, all while being watched by a captain eager to deliver a beating to any deckhand he thought was slacking. 

Tens of thousands persons every year find themselves trafficked into forced labour in Europe, according to estimates in the EU Member States, with exploitation happening mainly in the areas of construction, agriculture or domestic services. Against this background, CCME and its partner’s organisations in four European countries have launched on 15 March 2012 a series of video spots, asking EU citizens to “open your eyes” and help in identifying trafficked persons.