Germany has missed the EU deadline to implement new rules on more action against human trafficking and better protection for the victims, a new report says.
The Deutsche Welle report said Germany has been criticized by the UNICEF and child protection organization ECPAT for delaying the implementation of an EU guideline to combat trafficking.
The EU guideline introduced two years ago, calls for tougher sentences and better protection for trafficking victims, however, Germany has failed the April 5 deadline set by the EU for the implementation of the rules.
According to the report, Germany is still debating how to implement the guideline the German justice ministry says a draft legislation “accounts for an exact implementation of the guideline.”
This is while the domestic policy spokesman of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives in parliament, Hans-Peter Uhl says the draft will not be enough since it will not include cases of human trafficking with the intention of sexual exploitation.
Uhl said that it’s impossible in Germany to convict someone for human trafficking as the burden of proof lies with the victim and they often are threatened by traffickers.
Meanwhile, NGO’s also criticize the justice ministry draft for not being up to the standards of EU guidelines.
“If for instance an underage girl is brought from Romania to Germany and forced into prostitution, then this qualifies as sexual abuse and exploitation but not as human trafficking. And the latter would be punished more severely under German law,” the report quoted Rudi Tarneden of UNICEF Germany as saying.
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