Human Trafficking in [Hungary Street Children in [Hungary] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Hungary] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Republic of Hungary [ Country-by-Country
Reports ] The Hungary is primarily a transit
and, to a lesser extent, a source and destination country for women and girls
trafficked from Slovakia, Romania, Ukraine, Moldova, Poland, the Balkans, and
China for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. While some of these
trafficking victims are exploited in Hungary, most are trafficked on to
Austria, Slovenia, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, France,
Scandinavian countries, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Mexico. Roma women and
girls remain highly vulnerable to internal sex trafficking. Trafficking
experts report that the average age of victims in Hungary is decreasing. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report,
June, 2008 [full country report] |
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CAUTION: The following links have been
culled from the web to illuminate the situation in ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Human Rights
Watch: World Report 2002 - Hungary HUMAN RIGHTS DEVELOPMENTS - The state response to human
trafficking remained poor, with uneven enforcement of antitrafficking
legislation, inadequate victim support services, and frequent police
hostility toward women victims. ***
ARCHIVES *** U.S.
Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs GOVERNMENT
POLICIES AND PROGRAMS TO ELIMINATE THE WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR - The Government of Hungary is working with IOM and
partner agencies to implement a trafficking prevention program in
schools. Through consultations with
NGOs, the government has also provided anti-trafficking sensitization
training to police, border guards, and consular officials. In 2003, the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees, in conjunction with the Government of Hungary, established a
shelter for unaccompanied minors in order to prevent them from being
recruited by traffickers. Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS –
Organized crime syndicates transported many of the trafficking victims for
forced prostitution either in Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) - 1998 [22] The Committee is concerned
about the insufficiency of legal and other measures to address the issue of
sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution and trafficking
of children. Police in Szabolcs-Szatmár county
have arrested three men who abducted two girls and forced them into
prostitution. The girls - aged 14 and
15 - were forced into a car in the eastern town of The
Protection Project - Hungary [DOC] FORMS OF TRAFFICKING - Women are trafficked to Hungary
primarily for prostitution, but there have also been cases of trafficking
pregnant women and in infants for adoption. In 2002, a prominent Hungarian
geneticist was found guilty on four counts as an accessory in a
trans-Atlantic infant adoption scheme in violation of Hungary’s Family Act.
He was charged with recruiting poor, pregnant women from the Hungarian
countryside to give up their newborns for adoption in the United States in
exchange for a trip there, where they gave birth and were paid cash for their
infants. The scheme surfaced after several of the women complained that they
were paid much less than promised. In
May 2004, a man from Singapore was being held in Bangkok, Thailand, for
allegedly trafficking four Chinese women. He was arrested as he was about to
board a Turkish Airlines flight with the four women, who were holding fake
Singapore passports. Budapest was believed to be their final destination. Freedom
House Country Report - Political Rights: 1 Civil Liberties: 1 Status: Free Human Rights Overview by Human
Rights Watch – Defending Human Rights Worldwide Stop
Violence Against Women – Country Page U.S. Library of Congress
- Country Study Strategies
for Combating Human Trafficking and Domestic Violence A
CRITICAL MOMENT IN HUNGARY’S DEVELOPMENT - As Hungary joins the European Union,
Hungarian citizens and human rights experts fear that, with the opening of
borders to the West, Hungary will increasingly become a destination country
for human trafficking. It is therefore crucial that Hungary’s NGOs,
government officials, and police officers be equipped with the tools
necessary to fight this growing problem. appendix
v - Trafficking in Human Beings in Hungary II. HUNGARIAN LAW IN PRACTICE - As it was mentioned, the Hungarian
legislation is responding to the requirement of the international standards.
The number of trafficking cases under prosecution, however, is not very high.
In 1999, there were only two cases registered, in 2000 11, in 2001 34, and in
2002 again 34 (the number of violations of personal freedom in connection
with trafficking in human beings (Section 175 (2-3)) was 7 in 200, and 4 in
2001). The procedures are relatively long, their average length used to be
2-3 years. As on the level of prevention and combating of criminality,
trafficking was not regarded as a real priority, and the hidden criminality
is probably quite high, it is difficult to describe the reality of the
present situation. The Directorate against Organized
Crime of the Police investigates trafficking cases connected with organized
crime. There is an improving cooperation with foreign countries, to
facilitate better police cooperation to combat organized crime and
trafficking in human beings. The National Crime Prevention Centre has established
a Coordination Committee against Trafficking in Human Beings, and this
committee just has started to elaborate a more comprehensive strategy on
combat against this phenomenon. Human Rights
Watch: World Report 2002 - Hungary HUMAN
RIGHTS DEVELOPMENTS
- The state response to human trafficking remained poor, with uneven
enforcement of antitrafficking legislation, inadequate victim support
services, and frequent police hostility toward women victims. Preying
On Children - The Number Of Kids Trafficked Into Virtual Slavery In Europe Is
On The Rise Worried that trafficking will only
grow in the years ahead, Europe knows a more coordinated approach is needed.
Last year's Brussels Declaration was the EU's first attempt to develop a
comprehensive policy on trafficking that includes prevention, punishment and
rehabilitation of the victims. Last week EU Justice and Home Affairs
ministers agreed to grant limited-term visas to trafficked people who
cooperate with police. Source countries, including Croatia and Hungary, have started
countertrafficking campaigns. But success is a relative term. "If a
government can say, 'We've raided 150 brothels and pulled out 300 women
without passports,' they can show a concrete, measurable response to the
problem," notes Lisa Kurbiel, UNICEF's project officer for child
trafficking. "But that doesn't address the root causes." Factbook
on Global Sexual Exploitation - Europe TRAFFICKING - In several European Union
Member States, prostitution has become increasingly dominated by foreign
women. In many areas within the European Union the number of migrant prostitutes
is higher than the number of local prostitutes. The slave trade in women for
sexual purposes is growing, and organized crime is more often behind this
trade. Smuggling in humans is much less risky than smuggling drugs and it is
highly profitable. Women from Africa (Ghana, Nigeria,
Morocco), Latin America (Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic), South
East Asia (the Philippines, Thailand), and Central and Eastern Europe (Czech
Republic, Hungary, Poland,
Romania, Russia, Ukraine) are the largest groups of women being trafficked
into the European Union. Hungary:
Trade in Women Spurs Action by UN Women are often the victims of
this new international mafia. The authorities in the United States estimate
that more than one million females are smuggled across borders every year.
Many, like the two dancers, are simply forced into prostitution. Others
naively believe adverts promising them a life of plenty abroad if they pay to
be smuggled across borders. When they arrive, they find they
have been duped and have to "pay" for the trip over and over again
- and that the only way to do so is to accept the offer of "work"
made by the criminals gangs who took them there. The extent of the networks
behind the trafficking in people and drugs is almost unimaginable. In Russia
alone, an estimated 9,000 criminal organisations are now in operation
compared with about 700 a decade ago. UN estimates show that about 40,000
Russian businesses operate under full or partial mafia control. The mafia is also keen to make use
of the opportunities afforded by the eastward enlargement of the European
Union. Lieutenant-Colonel Zsolt Bodnar, of the anti-organised crime division
of the Hungarian police, said: "The Russian mafia is already present in Hungary in a big way. They come here
and start legitimate businesses and then just wait because they know that
Hungary will soon be a member of the EU and then their opportunities for
expansion will be immense." All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107 for noncommercial,
nonprofit, and educational use |
Human Trafficking in [Hungary Street Children in [Hungary] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Hungary] [other countries]