Screening for human trafficking

Summary

Human trafficking involves the "(...) recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion (...) for the purpose of exploitation". As a result, trafficked persons experience a severe violation of their human rights, as they are exploited economically or sexually under coercion, threats and deception.  People seeking protection and those who immigrate to Germany as unskilled workers are particularly vulnerable to this. For the victims, there are both severe psychological and physical consequences, such as an anxiety or trauma disorder. In order to minimise the individual and societal consequences, refugee survivors of human trafficking should be identified as early as possible in the asylum procedure.

The goals of this project are (1) the early identification of trafficked persons through the implementation and evaluation of a screening procedure that all new arrivals at the reception centre Patrick-Henry-Village Heidelberg shall take part in, (2) the establishment of cooperations with counselling centres and other important actors in this field, (3) training of employees of various initial reception centres in Baden-Württemberg on the topic of human trafficking and (4) the continuation of the screening as well as (5) an assessment of the possible expansion to other initial reception centres in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Linked to this is a comprehensive study on the identification, experiences and support needs of persons seeking protection who have experienced human trafficking (RE-TRA-C study).