Sweden was criticised by the Council of Europe for not doing enough to combat trafficking, where people are forced to work or commit crimes against their will.
In a report presented Tuesday, the organisation said Sweden should have an action plan to fight all sorts of human trafficking and points out that poor Bulgarian berry pickers who are lured here to work under slave-like conditions can be seen victims of trafficking.
While Sweden is good at, and received praise for, its work against trafficking where people are forced into prostitution, the Council of Europe says more needs to be done when it comes to other forms of trafficking. Only last year, the task of the national coordinator against human trafficking was widened to include this broader understanding of the crime.
“We are working to apply existing working methods and models to other forms of exploitation, but this is more complex and we need to learn more,” said Patrik Cederlöf, who is in charge of Sweden’s national coordinator against human trafficking. He told Swedish Radio News that they will focus more on berry pickers during the coming season. But, he said, part of the problem is that it is hard to even find the victims.
“The biggest hurdle today is that the people who end up in this situation come from such vulnerable circumstances in their home countries that they see this as an opportunity to earn their living. They don’t see themselves as victims of a crime,” he said.
The Council of Europe report also chastised Sweden for the low number of convictions against human traffickers, and for extraditing people who may themselves be victims of the crime and instead should have been offered support and protection.
Source: Radio Sweden
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