Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Poverty drives the unsuspecting poor into the
hands of traffickers Published reports & articles from 2000 to 2025 gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Austria.htm
Austria is a transit and destination country for women and
children trafficked from Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Moldova, Belarus,
Ukraine, Slovakia, Nigeria, and sub-Saharan Africa for the purposes of
commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Some of these women are
trafficked through Austria to Italy, France, and Spain. Women from Africa are
trafficked through Spain and Italy to Austria for the purpose of sexual
exploitation. There are reports of some trafficking of foreign women and
children for the purpose of forced domestic servitude and forced begging
within Austria. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2009 Check out a later
country report here or a full TIP Report here |
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CAUTION: The following
links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in HOW TO USE THIS WEB-PAGE Students If you are looking for
material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on this
page and others to see which aspects of Human Trafficking are of particular
interest to you. Would you like to
write about Forced-Labor? Debt
Bondage? Prostitution? Forced Begging? Child Soldiers? Sale of Organs? etc. On the other
hand, you might choose to include possible precursors of trafficking such as poverty. There is a lot to the subject
of Trafficking. Scan other countries as
well. Draw comparisons between
activity in adjacent countries and/or regions. Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line Teachers Check out some of
the Resources for Teachers attached to this website. HELP for Victims Austrian
Criminal Police ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** How the new Fagins are bringing child slavery to Britain Olga Craig, Bojan Pancevski, and David Harrison,
The Telegraph, 04 Jun 2006 [accessed 20 January
2011] Two years ago, when
she was 10, Dochka lost what was left of her
innocence when she was sold to a band of child traffickers by her mother and
aunt in ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Austria U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/austria/
[accessed 10 May
2021] PROHIBITION OF
FORCED OR COMPULSORY LABOR NGOs noticed an
upward trend in labor trafficking. Traffickers exploited men and women from
Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, and China in forced labor, primarily in
restaurants, construction, agriculture, health care, and domestic service,
including in diplomatic households. Seasonal migrants were especially
vulnerable to labor trafficking, particularly during the harvest seasons.
Traffickers exploited children, persons with physical and mental
disabilities, and Roma in forced begging. PROHIBITION OF CHILD
LABOR AND MINIMUM AGE FOR EMPLOYMENT The law prohibits
all of the worst forms of child labor. The minimum legal working age is 15,
with the exception that children who are at least 13 may engage in certain
forms of light work on family farms or businesses. Children age 15 and older
are subject to the same regulations on hours, rest periods, overtime wages,
and occupational health and safety restrictions as adults, but they are
subject to additional restrictions on hazardous forms of work or for ethical
reasons. Restrictions for hazardous jobs include work with materials
considered dangerous for children, work in the sawmill business, on
high-voltage pylons, and specified jobs in the construction business. The labor
inspectorate of the Ministry of Labor, Family, and Youth is responsible for
enforcing child labor laws and policies in the workplace and did so
effectively. Freedom House
Country Report 2020 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/austria/freedom-world/2020 [accessed 7 July
2020] G4. DO INDIVIDUALS
ENJOY EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY AND FREEDOM FROM ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION? According to the US
State Department’s 2019 Trafficking in Persons Report, the Austrian
government is making efforts to fight human trafficking; convictions and
prosecutions for trafficking-related offenses have increased, although the
courts “continued to issue light or suspended penalties for convicted
traffickers.” The government has not appointed anyone to focus on this issue,
which has limited their ability to evaluate the efficacy of their efforts.
The government has made efforts at identifying victims among migrant populations. Austria becomes
int'l human trafficking transit point, destination Xinhua News Agency, news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-10/18/content_10212986.htm [accessed 20 January
2011] Only recent years
in Viennese police
arrest nine for human trafficking Deutsche Presse-Agentur (German Press Agency) DPA, news.monstersandcritics.com/europe/news/article_1306116.php/Viennese_police_arrest_nine_for_human_trafficking [accessed 20 January
2011] Nine members of an
international gang of human traffickers forcing young women into prostitution
were arrested in Europe-Wide
Human-Trafficking Ring Cracked Associated Press AP
& Reuters, May 29, 2006 www.rferl.org/content/article/1068749.html [accessed 20 January
2011] Authorities across Trafficking in
Women to International
Organization for Migration IOM, Migration Information Programme,
ISBN 92-9068-056-3(c), June 1996 At one time this
article had been archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 3
September 2011] EXECUTIVE SUMMARY - The study
describes how women are trafficked to Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child, 28 January 2005 sim.law.uu.nl/SIM/CaseLaw/uncom.nsf/0/f5f9eea44fdb6bcdc1256fa5003ac54d?OpenDocument [accessed 20 January
2011] [51] The Committee
welcomes the State party's efforts in addressing the sexual abuse and child
pornography, e.g. the National Plan of Action of 1998 against Sexual Abuse
and Child Pornography in the Internet and through training of the police and
other professionals. The Committee also notes the Criminal Law Amendment Act
of 2004, which contains a new regulation on trafficking in human beings. ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** 2017 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 20 April 2018 www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2017/eur/277139.htm
[accessed 12 March
2019 www.state.gov/reports/2017-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/austria/ [accessed 24 June
2019 PROHIBITION OF
FORCED OR COMPULSORY LABOR Some migrants, both
men and women, were subjected to trafficking for forced labor in the
agriculture, construction, and restaurant/catering sectors. Some traffickers
also subjected Romani children and persons with physical and mental
disabilities to trafficking for forced begging. PROHIBITION OF CHILD
LABOR AND MINIMUM AGE FOR EMPLOYMENT The labor
inspectorate of the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, and Consumer Protection
is responsible for enforcing child labor laws and policies in the workplace,
and did so effectively. Penalties in the form of fines may be doubled in
cases of repeated violations of the child labor code. Penalties were
sufficient to deter violations. Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61636.htm [accessed 4 February
2020] TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS
– While there were no accurate statistics on the number of trafficking
victims, the NGO LEFOE reported assisting 167 trafficking victims in 2004, up
from 142 victims in 2003. The majority of traffickers arrested by police were
citizens; however, the number of foreigners engaged in trafficking increased
between 2003 and 2004. Police estimated that a large portion of trafficking
was controlled by organized crime, primarily from Most trafficked
women were brought to the country with promises of unskilled jobs, such as nannies
or waitresses. Upon arrival they were often coerced into prostitution.
According to police, there also were cases of women who knowingly entered the
country to work as prostitutes, but were forced into dependency akin to
slavery. Most victims were in the country illegally and feared being turned
into authorities and deported. Traffickers usually retained victims' official
documents, including passports, to maintain control over them. Trafficking
victims reported being subjected to threats and physical violence. A major
deterrent to victim cooperation was widespread fear of retribution, both in
the country and in the victims' countries of origin All
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