National Threat Assessment 2008. Organised Crime - Politie

There were underage victims (often in addition to adult victims) in half of
the 18 prostitution-related investigations. These cases generally involved
establishments with no licence to operate as a sex establishment, such as Turkish
catering businesses, or activities taking place in or from a suspect’s home.
In some cases there are links between smuggling of illegal immigrants and
human trafficking. It was noticed that the reception procedure for
unaccompanied minor asylum seekers was sometimes misused. Some of the
victims who entered the Netherlands under this procedure were forced to work
in the Netherlands and others were forced to work abroad. A Nigerian group of
offenders used this method to put Nigerian girls and/or women to work as
prostitutes in Italy and Spain.
Once the girls/women had started to work as prostitutes, the great majority
of the suspects forced them to continue by using violence or threatening to
use violence. As well as getting victims to work harder and to hand over their
earnings, the use of coercive measures can also prevent victims from telling
others about their plight. The relationship between offenders and victims
is characterised in some instances by a mixture of intimacy and fear.
It can be concluded from the records of victims/potential victims of human
trafficking kept by the Foundation against Trafficking in Women (Stichting tegen
Vrouwenhandel) that most of the victims are aged between 18 and 30. Dutch,
Bulgarian, Nigerian and Romanian nationals comprised the bulk of the victims
in the period in question. The victims are almost always women. The Foundation
reports that in recent years more and more Dutch girls have been recorded as
victims of human trafficking. These native Dutch girls are recruited before they
turn 18 and introduced to prostitution shortly after their 18th birthday.
Exploitation in other sectors
‘Other exploitation’ was made a criminal offence only relatively recently
(in 2005). An exploratory study of the 2000 to 2005 period by the National
Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings (Bureau Nationaal Rapporteur
Mensenhandel, BNRM) shows that other exploitation occurs in various legal
sectors, such as domestic work, agriculture and horticulture, the temporary
employment sector and (Chinese) catering establishments.
People are also exploited for the benefit of criminal activities. The analysis of five
criminal investigations into exploitation in other sectors showed that two related
to employment in illegal cannabis cultivation. There have also been reports
suggesting that people were being exploited as body packers and pickpockets.
chapter 2 – Illegal markets
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