Every year illegal trade with women, men and children takes place across country borders. Organised crime is behind a stream of migrants, transnational prostitution and international sale of organs. This poses new challenges which are linked to globalisation.

Several kinds of human trafficking

Trafficking in women is no longer the only form of human trafficking in the region. Experience from other parts of Europe indicates that trade in human beings who are being exploited in agriculture, construction and housework, such as, for example, au pair jobs, is becoming more widespread. People are also being exploited for the sale of organs and forced labour, and children are traded for begging and sexual exploitation.

To be able to stop this development there is a need for shared knowledge and understanding of the new forms of organised criminal exploitation of labour. This requires regional and international co-operation between the authorities and NGOs. In order to achieve the desired effect it is important to target and co-ordinate efforts against trading in human beings at international level.

Nordic co-operation against trafficking

Nordic co-operation places a very high priority on efforts to fight human trafficking and actively works to promote a co-ordinated and effective regional effort.

The Nordic gender equality, social, health and justice ministers have taken a large number of initiatives to co-operate in the Nordic countries to stop human trafficking. In 2001 the Nordic Council of Ministers took the initiative for a Nordic-Baltic Campaign Against Trafficking in Women, to create public debate in the Nordic and Baltic countries.

It was successful. Co-operation with the Baltic countries and Northwest Russia has also successfully been established to fight against human trafficking, first and foremost trafficking in women.

One of the many challenges is to ensure the victims of human trafficking have a secure future in their home country. When they return to their home country, they are often collected by the ringleaders and sent out again. Nordic co-operation with the NGOs and authorities in the Baltic countries and Northwest Russia must be involved to ensure safe repatriation.

Regional and international co-operation

Nordic co-operation actively works to extend and develop regional co-operation and co-operation with neighbouring countries.

Since 2007 Russian senior officials, social workers and NGOs have been invited to the Nordic countries to strengthen co-operation and to build networks through the Nordic Council of Ministers' ’'Knowledge building and Networking Programme’. The council of ministers is working on similar exchange schemes with the Baltic countries.

The Council of Ministers has started up several concrete projects. Emphasis is placed particularly on the social aspects of human trafficking and gender equality. The most important objective of the projects is to build up capacity and competence to combat human trafficking.

Targeted efforts are being set up aimed at vulnerable teenagers who, for example, are placed in a children's home or in a juvenile prison. These efforts aim to prevent young people ending up in the claws of human traffickers.

In April 2008 the Nordic Council of Ministers organised an international conference in St. Petersburg with focus on preventative work in Northwest Russia, the Baltic countries and the Nordic countries.

The conference was an important platform for the exchange of 'best practice' and it set up concrete proposals on how different groups can work together to formulate common goals and strategies in measures to fight human trafficking in the Baltic Sea region.

The Nordic Council of Ministers is working with human trafficking issues in the Council of the Baltic Sea States, the Northern Dimension partnership in the social and health sector (NDPHS), OSCE, the EU, WHO and other international organisations.

The goal is to co-ordinate and make the measures effective. Despite important initiatives from international and national players, human trafficking continues with undiminished force. There is therefore still a great need for co-operation across country borders and policy areas.

Legislation and action plans

Legislation and penalties are important elements in fighting human trafficking. The Nordic and the Baltic countries were amongst those who first ratified the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, called the Palermo Protocol.

All Nordic countries have action plans against trafficking in women and other people. The plans have a common goal, but have different perspectives however, and a different organisation of the countries' efforts to support and protect potential victims of human trafficking. This means that co-operation on the experiences from implementation of the action plans may contribute to common learning and method development.

The Nordic and Baltic ministers for gender equality decided in May 2008 to draw up a joint Nordic Baltic strategy to fight trafficking with the focus on sexual exploitation.

Human trafficking affects Nordic citizens

An important initiative to defeat sexual exploitation is to reduce the demand for the sale of sex.

Today paying for sexual favours is a crime in Sweden, Norway and Finland. However, there are differences amongst the countries. In Sweden it has been a criminal offence for Swedes to buy sexual favours since 1999, while in Norway, it has been a criminal offence to purchase sexual favours both in Norway and abroad since 2009. In Finland it has been a criminal offenced to buy sex from victims of human trafficking since 2007. In Iceland legislation came into force in April 2009 making it a criminal offence to buy sexual favours. In Denmark it is neither forbidden to buy or sell sexual favours.

It is customer demand that keeps prostitution going and creates a market in which the ringleaders earn huge sums by exploiting traded women. It is therefore important to influence the attitudes of those who pay for sexual favours. And these are predominantly men.

The Nordic Gender Institute (NIKK) concluded a research project entitled 'Prostitution in the Nordic countries' with a conference in October 2008. It focused on prostitution and human trafficking for sexual exploitation, including men and women's attitudes to paying for sexual favours.