Record number of new clients in the assistance system for victims of human trafficking
Press release from the Finnish Immigration Service and the Joutsano reception centre:
The assistance system for victims of human trafficking received a record number of applications in the beginning of this year. A total of 73 persons were proposed for the assistance system. At the same time last year, the total number of proposals was 44. This means that the number of proposals has almost doubled.
Anyone who encounters a person and suspects that he or she is a victim of human trafficking can make a proposal for the person to be included in the assistance system. The majority of the proposals come from reception centres, legal counsel and the Finnish Immigration Service. The decision to include a person in the assistance system is made by the Joutseno reception centre, where the system is located.
The majority of the persons proposed for the assistance system were asylum seekers in Finland. The increase is explained by the large number of asylum seekers that arrived in Finland in the autumn of 2015. The number of new persons included in the assistance system did not, however, increase as much relatively speaking as the total number of asylum seekers.
Women often fall victim to sexual abuse
The assistance system accepted 42 new clients in the beginning of 2016. The most common new client was a woman who had fallen victim to trafficking and sexual abuse. About a third of the new clients in the beginning of the year had fallen victim to human trafficking for labour exploitation.
The majority had fallen victim to human trafficking in their home country or in Europe before coming to Finland. Those who had fallen victim to human trafficking in Finland had, for the most part, fallen victim to human trafficking for labour exploitation.
At the end of June the total number of clients in the assistance system was 116.
More information in the overview of the system
Overview of the assistance system for victims of human trafficking from January 1 to June 30 2016
Further information for the media
Jari Kähkönen, Director of the Joutseno reception centre, tel. +358 295 463 210, jari.kahkonen@intermin.fi
Katri Lyijynen, Senior Adviser at the Joutseno reception centre, tel. +358 295 463 223, katri.lyijynen @intermin.fi
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