Caritas steps up public work on human trafficking in Salzburg

Caritas and the Archdiocese of Salzburg are stepping up efforts to raise awareness of human trafficking, ORF Salzburg reports. Caritas says it established a specialist office in the city three years ago and is now taking its work to the public.

The office was set up to research human trafficking locally and identify steps needed to address it. It aims to raise awareness among institutions, social workers and the wider public.

Experts estimate that at least 15,000 people in Austria have been forced into prostitution. The Federal Criminal Police Office says sexual exploitation is the most common form of human trafficking, followed by labour exploitation. Other forms include forced begging, the exploitation of people to commit crimes, adoption trafficking, illegal surrogacy, forced marriage and child abuse imagery.

Caritas expert Katharina Schmid said exploitation can take different forms, including wage dumping and tax offences. The scale of trafficking is difficult to establish, and more public knowledge and political action are needed, she said. People affected in Austria are mainly citizens of non-EU countries without residence permits.

Worldwide, an estimated 50 million people are victims of human trafficking, and about 240 billion dollars is generated each year through the exploitation of people. In July, a 47-year-old Colombian woman was sentenced in Salzburg to 18 months in prison for human trafficking, with six months to be served.