UN: 140,000 being held in slavery across Europe

AROUND 140,000 people are being held in conditions of effective slavery in Europe after being smuggled by human traffickers, according to the United Nations.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime yesterday launched a $1 million (€720,000) fund in London that will offer small grants to charities and other groups providing help to victims of trafficking.

Executive director Yury Fedotov acknowledged the fund could cover only a fraction of victims’ needs, and appealed to governments and businesses to make further donations.

Fedotov told the BBC Today programme: “At any given time, approximately 2.5 million women, children and men are trafficked. It is a huge criminal business worth around £32 billion (€37.2bn). In Europe alone, the estimated value of trafficking is about £3bn.

“The victims are mostly women and children, but also men. It is a crime that needs to be addressed in an appropriate and more co-ordinated way.”

Mr Fedotov said organisations supporting trafficking victims have until May 1 to make applications for small grants, intended to fund safe havens, legal representation and material support for escapees.

The cross-border nature of human trafficking makes it “one of the most difficult crimes to address”, said Mr Fedotov, adding: “It is very hard to prosecute people without very strong and active international co-operation.

“So far, I wouldn’t say we have had tremendous success. For every 200,000 victims of human trafficking, there have been only three cases of people arrested and prosecuted.”