Before the health crisis and the successive confinements, the offenses of trafficking and exploitation of human beings recorded in France increased by 31% between 2016 and 2019, according to a study by the Ministerial Statistical Service for Internal Security (SSMSI).
(1/5) Unpublished publication of the SSMSI: "Trafficking and exploitation of human beings since 2016: an approach by administrative data", an analysis through sources from the Ministries of the Interior and of Justice.
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- Interstats (@Interieur_stats) October 22, 2021
The report, the first carried out on this topic, reveals that in 2019, 933 procedures for trafficking or exploitation of human beings were opened by the police and gendarmerie services, against 710 in 2016. On the other hand, “in 2020, in the particular context of the health crisis, the number of procedures, victims, defendants and people prosecuted and sentenced have decreased ”.
The number of procedures decreased last year to 772, "probably in connection with the health crisis and the various confinements", suggests the SSMSI in its analysis.
The number of convictions for offenses of trafficking and exploitation of human beings has also increased: 993 people were convicted of these acts in 2019, 46% more than in 2016.
Rise in sexual exploitation
Pimping represents more than half of open proceedings.
The service emphasizes that the proportion of underage victims of procuring increased in the space of four years, from 12% to 33% between 2016 and 2020. “Since 2018, the phenomenon of sexual exploitation of minors or young adults of French nationality is increasing, ”notes the study in particular.
"This corresponds to the increase in the phenomenon of sexual exploitation of young French girls observed since 2017 by the police and civil society", according to the report.
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But "the data recorded by the institutions only reflect the visible part of the trafficking and exploitation of human beings", qualifies the SSMSI.
According to a survey of victims of trafficking cited by the ministerial analysis, "in 2020, only 28% of victims supported by associations lodged a complaint".
