M. calls prove their worth in human trafficking investigations
In January 12th, 2006, the Ministry of Justice and M. started a campaign to combat human trafficking and expose the exploitation and abuse of women in the sex trade industry. Since the start of the campaign on January 12th, 2006, Meld Misdaad Anoniem (Report Crime Anonymously) has passed on a lot of tips from calls regarding forced prostitution to the police.
The Dutch Minister of Justice Piet Hein Donner: “One call from a worried member of the public who has the courage to pass on information can possibly help further the efforts of police and the judicial authorities in their battle against this degrading form of crime.”
Mr. Antonio Mario Costa, the executive director of the UNODC:
“We welcome the launch of this campaign and we hope that other countries will follow the Dutch example”
The set-up of the campaign
Clients of prostitutes, local residents, shopkeepers and taxi drivers are being encouraged through an aggressive advertising campaign to look for victims and alert the authorities or M. The campaign is designed to help people recognize the signs of sexual exploitation and act as described if they recognize the symptoms or have information about the criminals. A dedicated film for Internet visitors on sex sites was developed to raise awareness of the problem.
Calls about forced prostitutions
A substantial number of these calls contained information of such a significant nature, that as a result subsequent checks were conducted in various police districts. Below are some examples.
The Rotterdam police booked various solid results with tips from calls made to M.:
Officers encountered 9 possible victims during an inspection, of which one had been the victim of rape.
During another operation, a total of 3 men and 3 women were detained. It later transpired that one of the men was wanted in a different region for human trafficking. A police inspection of an escort agency revealed one victim of enforced prostitution, who was rescued and taken into care..
In the eastern part of The Netherlands, a tip given to M. led to the closure of an illegal brothel.
In Rotterdam and in other police forces in The Netherlands, many investigations are on-going, and future operations are currently being set up.
Below are the results in the year of the campaign and in the ‘non-campaign’ year 2007 in numbers. Tips about the following victims were collected:
| actionable calls to M. | 2006 | 2007 |
|---|---|---|
| adult women | 99 | 69 |
| adult men | 3 | 0 |
| under age (18) | 18 | 24 |
| total | 120 | 93 |
To be continued...
Aside from the reported results, this campaign has also attained results in other areas. The parties involved were the dept. of Justice, M., the Police expertise centre for human trafficking, the regional police forces, the National human trafficking reporting agency, the Organization against Trafficking in Women, de Rode Draad (Red Thread- prostitute’s foundation) and Atalantas (organization for human trafficking victims) have been working together particularly well to generate attention for this serious form of crime.
The ministries of Justice and Interior Affairs have decided for a rerun of the campaign against human trafficking. In January 2008, new campaign materials such as posters, flyers, articles, film and advertisements on sex sites on the Internet were launched, aiming for better results still in order to help law enforcement in its steady task to combat human trafficking.
