The National Action Plan against Trafficking in Human Beings for 2013-2015

The National Action Plan against Trafficking in Human Beings for 2013-2015 is a continuance of documents that set out the tasks in the area of preventing trafficking in human beings implemented from September 2003. The first one was the National Programme for Combating and Preventing Trafficking in Human Beings for 2003-2004, which has been adopted by the Council of Ministers.

Considering the experience from the implementation of previous Plans, which shows that in many cases the tasks required more time than the initially planned two years, the current Action Plan has been scheduled for three years. It will allow making more effective use of available funds and human resources.

In the beginning of the 1990s, trafficking in human beings in Poland intensified. At present, Poland is not only the country of origin of victims, but also a transit country through which victims are transferred from Eastern to Western Europe and a destination country for victims of trafficking in human beings for sexual exploitation and forced labour.

Data from the General Prosecutor's Office show that in the years 2009–2011 there were in total 1524 victims of trafficking in human beings, of which the vast majority (81.7%) were Polish citizens (1245). Other victims (279 people or 18.3%) were foreign nationals. This proportion is a stable trend: the percentage of foreigners is slightly lower than compared to 2006–2008 (22.7%).

From 2009, there has been a decrease in number of juvenile victims of trafficking in human beings (66 people in 2009; 32 in 2010 and 17 in 2011). Trafficking in human beings within the European Union was the dominating phenomenon. In the case of Polish citizens, they were mainly women used for sexual exploitation in Poland and abroad, as well as people who travelled to foreign countries used for forced labour.

Data from the Central Unit for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Central Investigation Bureau, General Headquarters of Police, show that in 2009–2011 many Polish women were sexually exploited in other EU Member States (Germany, Netherlands, Italy). In addition, Polish citizens were identified as victims of forced labour and of forcing to commit fraud (their IDs were seized to conclude loan agreements without their consent – in Germany, obtaining welfare benefits under false pretences – in the UK in 2012).

In the years 2010–2011, the Police concluded 31 proceedings, of which 25 concerned sexual exploitation, 8 cases concerned trafficking in children, four were about forced labour, one about exploiting for begging and two cases were about taking out loans fraudulently. In six cases, which concerned exploiting foreigners in Poland (sexual abuse of citizens of Ukraine and Bulgaria, using citizens of Bangladesh for forced labour, and using Romanian citizens for begging), 30 foreigners were granted the status of a victim.

When forcing foreigners to beg in Poland is concerned, mainly citizens of Romania, Moldova and sometimes Ukraine are used, while the perpetrators are people of Roma origin, citizens of Romania who are members of organised criminal groups who also recruit women with children and disabled persons (victims are sometimes mutilated by the perpetrators who wish to boost their profit from begging in this way).

Form the information we have on instances of forced labour it appears that employee rights of large groups of Poles are violated more and more frequently in other EU countries (e.g. the Netherlands and the UK). Yet it should be noted that these instances are not always detected and sometimes they are not related to human trafficking. The victims of such practices in Poland are usually the citizens of the neighbouring countries and the citizens of Asian countries.

Below you can read the document in English, Polish and Russian version.

Tags: National Action Plan