While earlier the specialists of the society used to work with the victims of sexual exploitation, nowadays the victims of labour exploitation and fictitious marriage apply for assistance as well.
“If we are to draw a portrait of a victim, it will be a woman under 25, from a small town, with secondary education, with one or even two children born during non-registered relationships, whom she is bringing up herself,” as emphasized by Miruškina.
The economic situation of Latvia is what encourages women to make reckless steps, since women do not have a job and have to take care of themselves and their children. “Temptations and offers are so good that they are unable to refuse. If there is no information or knowledge, the work abroad is perceived as the only way out,” Miruškina pointed out.
At the same time the society has noticed that men tend to become the victims of human trafficking as well. It is far more difficult for the specialists of the society to work with men, because there are more depressive and it is harder for them to admit that they have become the victims of human trafficking.
As from August last year, the society has launched a trust line and hopes that the state will continue to fund the maintenance of this line in future as well.
Dmitrijs Trofimovs, the Director of the Sectoral Policy Department of the Ministry of the Interior agrees to the point of view of Miruškina that there are mostly the risks of sexual exploitation; however, a rather substantial progress is observed in relation to labour exploitation. Likewise, the risk of fictitious marriage has appeared.
Up till now, not a single case of forced labour, which would correspond to the essential elements of the criminal offence envisaged in the Criminal Law, was established in the territory of Latvia.
Latvian institutions have managed to make the organizers of fictitious marriages to bear responsibility for their offences, namely, law amendments which envisage criminal responsibility for malicious provision of a person with a possibility of legally receiving the right to stay in Latvia or another Member-State of the European Union entered into force last year, as pointed out by Trofimovs. The State Police has already initiated five criminal proceedings regarding the recruitment of persons for fictitious marriage.
It has already been reported that today the government has approved the Guidelines for Prevention of Human Trafficking for 2014-2020. The experts have concluded that the nationals of Latvia mostly end up in exploitation conditions in Ireland, Great Britain, Germany, Netherlands, Greece, Belgium, Sweden.
In the territory of Latvia, human trafficking and exploitation is not a widely spread type of criminal offences. It is forecasted that Latvia will remain a country of origin of the victims of human trafficking, and this trend will remain along with the crisis in the state economy. Willing to improve their financial condition, as well as to find a possibility of staying abroad for living, the nationals of Latvia will voluntarily go to the most developed EU countries.
As the globalization continues, the tourism is developing, the poverty and marginalization of the society is increasing, economic and demographic differences are increasing, the demand for sexual services and cheap workforce and supply is growing, the volumes of human trafficking which are crucial across the whole world will not decrease. It is forecasted that the volumes of human trafficking and exploitation in Latvia will not decrease either.
In the activities implemented within the framework of the guidelines, the Ministry of the Interior has paid attention to the education of law enforcement institutions and victims of human trafficking. It is planned to organize information campaigns and activities about human trafficking, sexual exploitation, labour exploitation and conclusion of fictitious marriage. It is also planned to carry out the education and informing of pupils and students about the problems of human trafficking.
The guidelines also envisage to carry out the training of police officers, border-guards, public prosecutors, judges, social workers, consular officials, labour inspectors, orphan’s courts and other involved persons about the issues of human trafficking and protection of children’s rights.
The guidelines envisage to provide the victims of human trafficking with state-paid social rehabilitation services, as well as to distribute easy-to-use information about the rights of the victims of human trafficking in the area of employment and social area, as well as about the rights of persons with a status of a victim and migrants.
Over these years, it is planned to improve support programmes for children who have suffered from human trafficking and to identify the risks that influence the health of persons involved in prostitution.
The authors of the guidelines recommend assessing the need of amendments in the Criminal Law regulation in relation to the punishment of buyers of sexual services. In 2012, the experts of a specially created working group have concluded that the general prohibition of prostitution and criminalization of purchase of sexual services is not to be supported. The implementation of such repressive measures would not achieve the aim, since the reasons for prostitution and the circumstances stimulating it will not disappear.
The policy document also envisages to improve the capacity of law enforcement institutions and competent partners for combating the cases of human trafficking, for instance, to create state law enforcement units for better investigation of the cases of human trafficking.
The information of law enforcement institutions certifies that, for instance, the number persons suspected of soutenerism in 2012 was 29. This crime becomes more and more latent and is masked as legal business activity.
Latvia has identified fictitious marriage as a potential risk for the subjection of a person to human trafficking. A fictitious marriage is concluded without an aim of crating a family; the aim of this marriage is to provide third-country nationals with a residence permit of a family member of EU citizen in the respective EU country and the right to freedom of movement within the EU. Fictitious marriages are mostly concluded with the citizens of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh.
Usually, fictitious marriages are concluded in Ireland, Cyprus and Great Britain. As from 2004, just in Ireland female citizens of Latvia entered in more than 1000 marriages with third-country nationals, part of which or even greater part of which may be considered to be fictitious marriages.
The trends of previous years certify that once certain complications occur, marriage procedure in Ireland tend to linger and female citizens of Latvia, in order to ensure a residence permit to foreigners illegally staying in Ireland, are married off in other countries – Pakistan, India, Nigeria, Spain, Denmark, Cyprus, France, even Tanzania and Thailand, as well as in Latvia.
Most of 39 activities envisaged in the guidelines are planned to be implemented by using the financial resources of the state budget for the current year. The issue of funding additionally required to the responsible ministries will be considered in the course of medium term budget and in requests for new policy incentives.
More information:
Rasa Salina (Rasa Saliņa), Public Relations Consultant and Practitioner