HUMAN TRAFFICKING: Concerns even as Swedish law is rewritten to get convictions

WHEN one looks at the numbers of successful prosecutions for human trafficking in Sweden over the last five years, one could easily be forgiven for thinking there had been little return for its major investment in combating the crime.

Between 2003 and 2008, there were just 10 people convicted specifically of human trafficking out of 133 cases brought.

However, the low return is not reflective of the true impact the prosecutions have had. The ambiguous wording of the trafficking law in Sweden up to July 2010 made it exceptionally difficult to get convictions.