Greece is a transit destination mainly for women and children trafficked for the purposes of human trafficking and forced labor for men as well, according to the annual State Department report which was released today.

References for Greece is identical to last years, and that way remains in the same rating category.

As noted in the report, some women from Eastern Europe (including Latvia, Lithuania and Georgia), Nigeria, the Dominican Republic, China and some African countries ” are subjected to trafficking in Greece,” adding that “victims of forced work identified in Greece are mainly children and men of Afghanistan, Albania, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, India, Moldova, Pakistan, Romania and Poland.
According to police and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs, there has been an increase in the number of Roma children from Albania, Bulgaria and Romania, which “subjected to forced labor” in Greece by members of their own families in order to sell various goods on the street, begging or committing petty theft.

It also states that women are brought to Greece through the Aegean islands and the Greek-Turkish border in Evros with final destination of Athens and other major cities to be “subjected to trafficking”. Women are transported through Greece for sexual exploitation and forced labor in Italy and other European Union countries.

The report noted that authorities have identified two Greek citizens as victims of trafficking and asylum seekers from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan are exploited by traffickers and perpetrators. Furthermore, money laundering.” seems to be taking part in many restaurants, nightclubs, yacht rental companies and other small businesses.

“The government is more strict” against perpetrators, compared to the previous report, and has improved the recognition procedures for victims of trafficking and adopted new legislation to establish the National Coordinator for trafficking. The Greek authorities then progressed to more arrests of traffickers in 2013 and made significant steps to further training for members of the police and judiciary in aspects related to human trafficking.

Additionally, references of cooperation between NGOs in investigating and solving cases of trafficking, and to ensure the hospitality victims were made.
Finally, it is stated that the Greek government is making” continuous efforts” to protect victims of trafficking, thus Greece has granted almost the same amount of residence permits to foreign victims of trafficking, compared with the previous year.