Legislation on Trafficking in Human Beings and Illegal Immigrant Smuggling
- Document number
- 1631
- Date
- 2005
- Title
- Legislation on Trafficking in Human Beings and Illegal Immigrant Smuggling
- Author/publisher
- Europol
- Availability
- View/save PDF version of this document
- Document type(s)
- EU law, International Law,
- Keywords
- Organized crime, Prosecution, Law Enforcement, Criminal justice, Judicial cooperation; Victim-centred approach, National anti-trafficking measures; Criminalisation, Punishment, Crime prevention; Unlawful deprivation of liberty,
- Summary
- Trafficking and smuggling are two different crimes and both should be dealt with via separate and specific legislation. The difference in penalties for trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation in the Member States is notable. The penalties for an offence vary between a fine and 20 years imprisonment. If the crime has been committed in aggravating circumstances, the penalties vary between six months and a life sentence. The highest penalties in these cases vary between 10 years and a life sentence. Regarding illegal immigrant smuggling, the penalties for smugglers in different countries also vary. The lowest penalty for smuggling in several Member States is a fine and the highest is 12 years. The biggest difference between highest penalties for an offence committed in aggravating circumstances is found in Italy where it is between 12 months and 15 years. This document is not intended to be a manual or to provide instructions. The main objective is to enrich law enforcement’s knowledge of legislation and further to assist the law enforcement authorities of the EU Member States in common investigations when combating trafficking human beings and illegal immigrant smuggling. The content of this document is based on the contributions received from the MS, EU legislative documents, various reports of international organisations, open source articles and the analysis of gathered information in general. Furthermore, a request for updated legislation was sent out to the MS. In order to avoid old information which could cause confusion and even harm to the cooperation and common international investigations, this compilation does not contain legislation from Luxembourg and France (illegal immigrant smuggling legislation).
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