Human trafficking convictions fall to ten-year low

Despite an increase in the number of human trafficking-related arrests, the number of human traffickers actually ending up in jail was at a 10 year low, according to figures newspaper AD got from the Council for the Judiciary.

Last year a total of 57 human traffickers were sentenced to jail. In 2014 a total of 60 were convicted and in 2013 there were 76. In 2005 more than 200 people were convicted of human trafficking. A total of 90 cases involving human trafficking appeared in court last year, compared to 116 in 2014.

The figures are remarkable, because over the past two years considerable efforts were put into the fight against human traffickers. On Friday State Secretary Klaas Dijkhoff of Security and Justice announced that 80 people suspected of human trafficking were arrested since September, when security and patrols around the Dutch borders were increased.Not all those cases have been completed yet, so they therefore are not included in the 2015 figures.