Prague, July 16 (CTK) – The Czech police registered 67 victims of people trafficking in 2014, which is ten more than in 2013, the Interior Ministry says in its annual report released yesterday, adding that sexual and labour exploitation prevailed among the uncovered cases.
A total of 20 crimes has been uncovered in this area and the courts convicted six of the originally 16 prosecuted suspects, the ministry writes.
This confirms the trend of the perpetrators not being violent but using tricks, the dependence of others or their lacking knowledge, the ministry says.
The victims mainly came from Bulgaria, Moldova, Nigeria, Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine, from the new EU states and Croatia.
“However, people trafficking in the Czech Republic also involves victims from the Czech Republic. For Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and Slovenia, on the contrary, the Czech Republic was a source [of victims] in 2014,” the ministry writes.
The highest number of victims was registered in the Usti (north Bohemia), Zlin (southeast Moravia) and Hradec Kralove (east Bohemia) regions.
In 2013, most cases were uncovered in Prague and the Liberec (north Bohemia) region.
The most frequent way of trafficking in people is their sexual or labour exploitation. Besides, the authorities have registered cases of foreigners misusing children by forcing them into thefts and begging, the report says.
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