Human rights news from Finland
The work against human trafficking is socially significant as human trafficking is hidden criminality, and exposing it is widely helpful to the society. In Finland, The National Assistance System for Victims of Human Trafficking has a regular and continuous training program for stakeholders, NGOs, and other operators within the field which has increased the awareness of the topic, promoted detections of cases and made identifying victims easier. This organization also publishes yearly its Annual Report.
According to the Annual Report 2023, unfortunately, the number of victims of human trafficking in Finland continues to be high. Forced labour was the most common form of human trafficking. The clients were of 35 nationalities. The fields of forced labour included picking wild produce (32%), berry farms (24%), restaurants (13%), cleaning (11%), well-being (4%) and greenhouses (4%).
In the end of the year 2023, there were a total of 1,563 clients in the NAS, of which 1,287 were identified victims, and 276 their underaged children. Amongst all victims, there were 19 children. Approximately 60% of all victims were women. Of all NAS clients, almost half (48%) were forced labour victims. 26% were sexual exploitation victims, and 20% were victims of forced marriage.
Work-related exploitation violates Finnish labour laws and other national laws, such as criminal law. Additionally, labour exploitation always involves financial crime. Forced labour victims don’t have any usual rights to decline given tasks, and the victim is in a vulnerable position.
“When exploiting employees, the objective is always to gain financial benefit. It distorts competition by giving unwarranted advantage to those companies who exploit people in a vulnerable position. Combating labour exploitation has a significant meaning for our society and economy. The National Assistance System advances crime prevention and helps the victims of the crimes”, explains Assistant Director Katri Lyijynen, of the National Assistance System of Victims of Human Trafficking. She continues: “There may be a debt relationship between the employer and employee, threats of violence, deportation or denunciation to the authorities. Also, the victim’s personal freedom may be restricted. Often, they have been misled in terms of the work conditions. The salary is often not appropriate or correctly paid.”
Erasmus+ project JeS (Joint eStories: Journeys from Fear ton Fair), with its six University and NGO partners from Finland, Slovenia, Italy, Spain and Belgium, work actively to increase the awareness of human rights issues in European higher education and in the NGO actions.
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