Slovenia, as a transit country for many migrants and workers, has concerns over increasing exploitation and trafficking of labor. The Ministry of Interior calls for expanding its definition of human trafficking to improve workers’ rights and supervision of victims as they often do not recognize themselves as victims.
October 18th is the yearly EU Anti-Trafficking Day. On that occasion, the Slovenian State Secretary at the Ministry of the Interior, Helga Dobrin, called on the Ministry of Justice to expand the definition of human trafficking in its Criminal Code.
Minister Dobrin argues victims of human trafficking often do not recognize themselves as victims.
This is also why recommendations to the Ministry of Justice to expand the definition of human trafficking in the Criminal Code have been requested. Labor exploitation and trafficking laws can seem unclear, people who are trafficked may not even know that they are being exploited or what their rights are. And consequently, their traffickers don’t get caught.
Goran Lukić from the Counselling Office for Workers noted that more and more cases of exploitation of workers and forced labor are being detected in the country.
Polona Kovač, from the non-governmental association Ključ, is concerned about the lack of convictions for human trafficking in prostitution. He worries that the field of forced labor is unenforced in the Criminal Code. Moreover, foreigners can get heavily indebted to traffickers or smugglers, so they are forced to accept any form of work.
Since 2007, October 18th has been the EU’s Anti-Trafficking Day, which raises awareness and includes campaigns to put an end to trafficking. According to the European Commission, in the EU there are on average 7,000 registered victims of human trafficking every year, with many more undetected. Almost every fourth victim of trafficking is a child.
Most traffickers in the EU are EU citizens and often of the same nationality as their victims. Nearly three-quarters of perpetrators are male.
Human trafficking refers to coercion, transportation, and exploitation for profit of a fellow human being. It most often appears as sex trafficking, but also as servitude, organ trade, forced begging, forced labor and coercion of criminal acts.
Slovenia is a country of destination for human trafficking victims, as it is a transit country for refugees and migrants traveling along the “Balkan route” and aiming to reach countries in Western Europe.
Slovenia is also a transit country for migrant workers who are hired by Slovenian companies to be employed as posted workers in other European Union countries, which can increase the risk of coercion and exploitation.
The Labor Inspectorate of Slovenia, Suzana Mašat, said that they are noticing an increase in workers from abroad. But employers do not report foreign workers to the employment office, and they do not keep the required documentation at construction sites.
In a 2023 evaluation report by the Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA), data provided by the Slovenian authorities showed that in the period of 2017–2021, 221 criminal offenses of human trafficking involving 241 victims and 93 perpetrators were registered by the police. However, only 41 perpetrators were sent to trial and just 26 of them were convicted for human trafficking. The highest penalty was imprisonment of eight years, and the average penalty was around three years. At least three perpetrators received a suspended sentence.
In criminal proceedings, only Slovenian citizens and foreign citizens with a permanent or temporary residence permit, who are in Slovenia, are entitled to free legal aid. Trafficked victims without legal residence rely on NGOs and not the state for assistance.
