Human trafficking near asylum seekers’ center in Gilze systematically not picked up

Signs of human trafficking taking place in the background of the asylum seekers' center in Gilze are systematically not picked up, investigations by AD revealed.

According to local residents, asylum seekers in Gilze are often picked up in certain places. In this process, the asylum seekers are targeted by human traffickers who later make them work for starvation wages or under duress.

Either the asylum seekers are referred by middlemen to various construction or cleaning companies. In most cases, however, the asylum seekers also work in agriculture, e.g. as harvest workers in the Netherlands and Belgium. There they have to work in the fields for days at a time for 2 to 3 euros an hour, according to the newspaper.

However, it has been observed for some time by (former) employees of the asylum center in Gilze that younger asylum seekers are also being recruited for sex work. However, this worrying problem does not only concern Gilze, but has also been made in other asylum seekers' center in the Netherlands and Belgium. The 24 reports alone that the national anti-trafficking coordination center CoMensha received in 2022 about human trafficking from asylum seekers' centers are only the "tip of the iceberg, administrative director Ina Hut" told AD.

According to the 2022 report of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM), human trafficking mainly affected foreigners from EU countries, such as Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria. Followed by victims from African countries, such as Uganda, Nigeria, and Guinea.

About 51.5% of trafficking victims were female, and 48.2% of them were male. On average, almost one-third of the registered victims were under 23 years old and about 54% of the alleged victims were trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Last, 30.6% of victims were subjected to other forms of exploitation outside the sex industry.

In general, the Netherlands is in the top 5 countries with the most human trafficking, finishing behind Romania and Nigeria, according to a report by the Coordination Center for Human Trafficking (CoMensha).