Trafficking for sexual exploitation most frequently flows from east to west, as victims from Central and Eastern Europe are exploited either in their countries of origin or trafficked to Western. Although the majority of victims of sexual exploitation originate from the European MS, a considerable number of identified victims are non-EU nationals (these are mainly from Albania, Brazil, China, Nigeria, and Vietnam, which demonstrates the transnational dimension of this criminal phenomenon).

In these cases, traffickers usually provide victims with counterfeit documents in order to conceal their real identity and to enable entry to the EU, either with fraudulently obtained visas or as asylum seekers. In some cases, victims are placed in refugee shelters following their asylum application, from where they suddenly disappear and are transferred to other MS by their traffickers.

In Western Europe, the most targeted as destinations for victims of sexual exploitation are Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom. EU victims tend to be trafficked using their own travel documents, which eliminates the risk of exposure and detection and saves traffickers the cost of obtaining forged documents. However, false documents are still used in cases of trafficked minors.

Member States situated at the borders of the EU – mainly Italy, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom – often serve as entry points for non-EU victims, who are dispatched as commodities to different locations in Europe. Several cases of victims trafficked to Western countries, previously detected in Austria. This shows the likelihood of Austria functioning as a transit point for victims originating from Central and Eastern Europe (especially Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania) who are later transferred to other destinations. This is due, in part, to Austria’s central European geographic location.

Europe’s major airports are known to be entry hubs, especially for victims originating from Asia, Africa and the Americas, though smaller airports and low-cost airlines are also used for intra-EU trafficking. Victims often use airline tickets purchased by their traffickers or by other members of the OCG. Since exploiters are aware of the presence of law enforcement and customs, they choose airports which they perceive as having fewer controls. Once law enforcement authorities respond to trafficking by increasing those controls, OCGs rapidly move elsewhere.

Source - https://www.europol.europa.eu/publications-documents/trafficking-in-human-beings-in-eu

PDF (Download at your own risk) - https://www.europol.europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/thb_situational_report_-_europol.pdf