National Threat Assessment 2008. Organised Crime - Politie

was gathered on a total of 119 cases of abuse in an employment situation,
54 of which were qualified as exploitation within the meaning of Section 273f
of the Penal Code. The number of listed cases of exploitation is shown in table
2. However, the totals cannot simply be added together, as one case may be
related to exploitation in several sectors. It is also unclear to what extent these
are cases related to organised crime.
2.6.4 Criminal organisations
The ethnic composition of the criminal organisations in the 23 29 cases analysed
was generally heterogeneous. As well as Dutch suspects, there was also a high
number of suspects of Turkish origin. Other frequently occurring countries of
origin were Morocco, Romania, Bulgaria and Surinam. The number of suspects per
group of perpetrators varied between 3 (the minimum in this selection) and 55.
An analysis of data from the Public Prosecutor database (‘OM-data’) shows that
human trafficking regularly occurs in combination with drug trafficking. Other
secondary offences included in charges in human trafficking cases were violent
supporting offences such as sexual assault or rape, assault or intimidation.
2.6.5 Consequences for Dutch society
The consequences for society consist of the harm to victims of human
trafficking. Due to most victims’ reluctance to file a report and the limited
possibilities available for detecting human trafficking, no reliable estimate of
the number of victims can be provided. It is clear, however, that each year at
least several hundreds of victims suffer direct and serious harm as a result of
human trafficking. The severity of the exploitation is primarily shown in the
way in which the victims are treated. Victims of both types of human trafficking
undergo psychological violence: they often have limited freedom of choice,
as they find themselves in a position of dependency. In addition, the exploiters
use physical violence against victims in many cases.
It should be noted that in some cases of exploitation the victims apparently
preferred to surrender (part of) their earnings rather than remain in the
more impoverished or more hopeless circumstances of their past. However,
the victims suffer financial loss, as they have to surrender (some of) their
earnings. Especially in the case of forced prostitution, the victims’ physical
integrity is also in jeopardy.
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A total of 23 criminal investigations, of which 18 cases related to exploitation in the prostitution
sector and five to exploitation in other sectors, two of which involved illegal cannabis cultivation.
chapter 2 – Illegal markets
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