Germany
However, the following mechanisms ensuring data collection and coordination of efforts are well established in Germany.
a) Annual Situation Report Trafficking in Human Beings
Since 1994 the Bundeskriminalamt (BKA) publishes the annual Situation Report “Trafficking in Human Beings”, which is up to 2004 drew on initiated police investigations, since 2005 has been drawing on concluded police investigations, according to the relevant offences in the German criminal code. For the area of trafficking in persons for the exploitation of labor, the investigated cases by labor inspectors (Finanzkontrolle Schwarzarbeit) are included into the situation report.
The purpose of the situation report is to provide a compact summary of current information on and developments within the field of human trafficking to enable police and political decision makers to assess the threat and give a basis for deciding on next steps.
More detailed information needed by professionals dealing with specific types and forms of trafficking in persons is provided by the BKA through other channels.
Data from other sources, such as NGOs, are not included into the situation report, nor are their other systematic data collections in this area. This is also due to the fact, that funding provided to NGOs is in general to help victims of violence, which is a larger group than victims of trafficking.
Further studies are commissioned to find reasons for the findings of the situation report, e.g. a study on the change in court proceedings in 2006
The situation report is an important basis for the work of the Federal Working Group on Trafficking in Women
b) Federal Working Group “Trafficking in Women”
The Federal Working Group “Trafficking in Women” was founded in 1997 in order to coordinate the efforts to combat trafficking in women, mainly for the purpose of sexual exploitation. It meets 3 – 4 times a year and its members are:
Federal Ministries for:
- Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (central coordinator and manager)
- Foreign Affairs
- Interior
- Justice
- Labour and Social Affairs
- Economic Co-operation and Development
- Federal Commissioner for Migration and Integration
- Federal Criminal Police Office
Länder level:
- technical conferences of the Länder ministries for Interior, Justice, Social Affairs and Gender Equality
NGOs
- KOK - German nationwide activist coordination group combating trafficking in women and violence against women in the process of migration
- SOLWODI e.V.
- Co-ordination group of the German Welfare Organisations represented by the Diakonische Werk
The tasks of the Working Group are
- continuous exchange of information on the numerous activities going on in the Federal Laender and in the national and international bodies,
- analysis of the concrete problems in combating trafficking in women,
- elaboration of recommendations and, if appropriate, joint campaigns to combat trafficking.
Furthermore the working group is one of the two steering committees for the implementation of the “Action Plan II to Combat Violence against Women” which includes numerous measures against trafficking in women. The other steering committee is the “Working Group Domestic Violence”. Measures to combat child trafficking are part of the National Action Plans “A Germany Fit for Children, 2005 – 2010” and “for the Protection of Children and Young People from Sexual Violence and Exploitation”. Thus Germany does not have a separate action plan against trafficking in persons, but includes the issue into the relevant general action plans.
An equivalent coordination mechanism for the field of trafficking in persons for labor exploitation is in the process of being set up under the coordination of the Federal Ministry for Labor and Social Affairs.
c) International Cooperation
A member of the Federal Working Group Trafficking in Women is representing Germany in the Council of the Baltic Sea States Task Force against Trafficking in Human Beings (CBSS-TF-THB) which focuses on trafficking in adults. Furthermore within the CBSS the Working Group on Children at Risk covers the area of child trafficking, where Germany is represented by an advisor from the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth from the division responsible for the Action Plan for the Protection of Children and Young People from Sexual Violence and Exploitation.
As a member of the group “Friends of the UNTOC”, Germany strives to base efforts within the UN-system on the provisions enshrined in the Palermo Protocol in order to avoid duplication of measures and use a single definition of the crime.
There are numerous bilateral treaties in the area of organized crime which Germany has signed with countries of origin, transit and destination of trafficking in persons, which as a rule include joint measures to combat trafficking in human beings.