„Under the current Latvian law, brokers arranging sham marriages with third country nationals and sending women to other states for this purpose can be prosecuted only if the activity involves fraud, threats, or force. If the woman is aware and consents to a sham marriage instead of a real job before her travel to another state, there is no punishment prescribed to the recruiter by the Criminal Law. Therefore, it is necessary to immediately start a discussion about changing the Criminal Law and allow prosecution of sham marriage brokers. This will protect Latvia and other EU member states from growing risks presented by illegal immigration and trafficking in persons. It is important to understand that trafficking in persons is, first of all, an organized business activity involving crime groups,” noted the Director of Interior Ministry’s Department for Policy Development Dimitrijs Trofimovs who also is the National Anti-Trafficking Programs Coordinator.
According to the information by Irish Ministry of Justice, in nine months of 2010, a total of 1487 third country nationals have applied for Irish residency permits on the bases of marriages with nationals of EU member states. 286 of those, were applications from Pakistani nationals (128 Pakistani nationals had concluded marriages with Latvians). A total of 293 applications for Irish residency permits were received from third country nationals who had married Latvians.
According to the information by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in 2009, a total of 257 Latvians in Ireland registered marriages with Pakistanis; 80 Latvians registered marriages with Indians, 20 – with nationals of Bangladesh, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Syria and other states. In 2010, a total of 143 Latvians in Ireland registered marriages with Pakistanis, 37 Latvians registered marriages with Indians, 17 – with nationals of Bangladesh, 11-with Nigerians.
3rd Secretary of the Consular Department of the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Santa Dalmane advised that „ in general, you can say that the number of marriages between Latvian nationals and third country nationals in Ireland has reduced. This is thanks to cooperation from the Irish authorities at the request by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that resulted in stricter bureaucratic measures in relation to marriage registration procedures staring from late 2010 (requirements for statements on applicant’s family status, document authentication, etc.). It is obvious that the preventive outreach campaigns have also been effective.
We have information from our embassies abroad that in most of the last year’ s cases Consular assistance requests were filed by Latvian women whose passports were taken away by their fictitious husbands to ensure that the Latvian wife would be unable to leave the country before the residency permit is granted. There have also been registered reports from Latvian women about physical abuse, denial of freedom to move and/or communicate, etc. by their fictitious husbands after the marriage conclusion. In these cases the women become aware about dangers presented by fictitious marriages and turn to the embassy officials for assistance to acquire new travel documents or to report the fictitious marriage. When replacing the missing travel documents the embassy officials would contact the relatives and friends of the applicant and cooperate with NGOs and social services organizations in foreign states to ensure that the required assistance (safe haven, meals) is available. We would also request that a report about the fake job offer that ended up with a fictitious marriage offer is made. Thus the embassies acquire documentary evidence to initiate the response by competent law enforcement agencies. There have also been cases involving Latvian nationals who were detained after the sham marriage was concluded. In those cases embassies had to establish the reasons for detention and possible consequences. Over the past year, embassies and the Consular Department also received assistance requests to invalidate/annul marriages concluded by Latvians in other states.”
The Director of “Shelter „Safe House”” Sandra Zalcmane indicated that „ in 2010, a total of 16 trafficking victims received assistance, 10 of them or 63% from all identified trafficking victims were victimized in the result of sham marriages. These victims are from Riga, Jurmala, Jelgava, Saldus, Valmiera, Limbazi, Aluksne, Tukums, Nereta, Broceni. A total of five women were trafficked for sexual exploitation and in two cases we can talk about trafficking for labor exploitation. NGO also provided assistance into more than 40 potential trafficking cases. Trafficking victims usually are 23 to 28 years old unmarried females representing urban population with secondary or university education with children or expecting children.”
“Shelter “Safe House”” staff would provide 1 to 2 counseling sessions each week to review job offers received by inquirers and advise them about different types of trafficking and possible dangers. The counseling sessions focusing on prevention of sham marriages would address potential victims and their relatives. If needed, Safe House staff would personally visit inquirers and potential victims for counseling. In 2011, Safe House and their partners plan to continue providing rehabilitation services to trafficking victims and running the sham marriages prevention campaign that was started in 2009. Starting from January 19, “Shelter „Safe House”” will run its prevention campaign „Fake Marriage - a Trap.” The campaign will address risks presented by sham marriages with third country nationals with or without compensation and gather information to establish the degree of public awareness about sham marriages. There will be activities arranged at Latvian ports for international departures.
„We are glad that besides Latvian and international media representatives entrepreneurs are also involved in this public outreach campaign. One of the best examples is Philip Morris Latvia that was one of the donors supporting this activity. I hope that there will be more entrepreneurs and organizations that will follow this example and support our initiative to protect our public and family members from the global problem of trafficking in persons,” said Sandra Zalcmane. Detailed information about the campaign „ Fake Marriage - a Trap” is available at www.patverums-dm.lv.
Welfare Department of Riga City Council has actively contributed to the trafficking prevention activities and its Director Inese Svekle indicated that „general public has little information about trafficking in persons nevertheless it is a growing problem attracting increased attention from the state authorities. Most potential victims have a vague knowledge about dangers presented by traffickers. Therefore, prevention activities (training sessions, conferences, secondary school outreach) and inter-agency cooperation in relation to assistance provision to trafficking victims have to continue. Last year, Welfare Department of Riga City Council jointly with „Safe House” provided anti-trafficking training to a total of 60 social services staff representatives. We would like to continue being involved in anti-trafficking activities also in 2011. We have developed a total of 20 000 brochures in Latvian and Russian entitled „Human Trafficking Prevention” that will be used for prevention purposes at the time of the campaign „ Fake Marriage - a Trap.”
Currently the prevention campaign „ Fake Marriage - a Trap” is sponsored by Philip Morris Latvia, Tallink Hotel Riga, Riga International Airport, Riga International Bus Terminal, Latvia Railway, Riga Passenger Port. Information distribution supported by: www.tvnet.lv, www.rus.tvnet.lv,www.draugiem.lv, www.apollo.lv.