Netherlands intensifies fight against human trafficking

The Netherlands is escalating the fight against human trafficking, pimps and exploitation of especially underage victims with more money and more manpower dedicated to this cause, the Ministry of Security and Justice announced, RTL Nieuws reports.

Next year Minister Ard van der Steur of Security and Justice is putting an extra 1 million euros into the fight against human trafficking, and from 2018 a massive 2 million euros per year. More detectives will be put on human trafficing cases and more analyst will be set to ork at the Expertise Center for Human Trafficking. Police officers will also receive extra training on how to spot trafficking.

Due to the increased flow of asylum seekers demanding so much attention last year and the ongoing reorganization at the police, the 2015 figures on the aproach of human trafficking were somewhat disappointing - undoubtedly a cause for concern, according to Van der Steur.

Figures from the National Rapporteur for Human Trafficking and Sexual Violence Against Children showed that the number of registered human trafficking victims did decrease in 2015, but that there were more child victims. Almost a quarter of the victims in 2015 were underage, compared to 18 percent in 2014. There was also an increase in young suspects involved in trafficking.