Labour exploitation
Human trafficking for labour exploitation involves someone taking advantage of workers' distress, helplessness or lack of language skills, or forcing them to perform work that exploits them. The victims' ability to act is restricted to such an extent that they are no longer free to dispose of their labour. They are not paid or are paid inadequately and have to work in poor or even dangerous conditions.
This form of human trafficking is regulated under Section 232 of the German Criminal Code (human trafficking), Section 232b of the German Criminal Code (forced labour) Section 233 StGB (Exploitation of Labour) and Section 233a StGB (Exploitation of Labour through Deprivation of Liberty). The boundaries between the different forms are often blurred.
In simple terms, human trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation can be divided into three types of activity:
- Recruitment (human trafficking)
- Arrangement of exploitative activity (forced labour)
- Exploitation (exploitation of labour through underpayment, dangerous working conditions, withholding of wages)
Recruitment, transport and exploitation of victims are similar to those involved in human trafficking for sexual exploitation, and both forms of exploitation can also occur in parallel or consecutively. Human traffickers exploit the material hardship and psychological or social vulnerability of their victims. Victims are persuaded to take the risk of working abroad with false promises of lucrative work. Human traffickers may present themselves as successful entrepreneurs or powerful intermediaries. They often present employment contracts with fictitious companies. The contracts frequently contain false information, e.g. that the victims have health insurance or that the working hours are much shorter than they actually are.
Debt bondage is not an uncommon practice. In such cases, the victims are not asked to pay for placement, transport, food and/or accommodation in advance, but only after they have received their first salary. By the time they are due to receive their wages, their alleged debts have been inflated to such an extent that they cannot be repaid. Often, those affected are also cheated out of their pay or put off, or they only receive partial payments. High rents are charged for accommodation in miserable, often unhealthy premises, as well as for provisions of food provided by the employers. Over the course of months, the debts grow rapidly, are unclear and uncontrollable for those affected, and often reach exorbitantly high amounts.
Labour exploitation can affect all genders. While men are mostly employed in agriculture, factories, slaughterhouses, the transport industry or on construction sites, women are often employed in agriculture, tourism (hotels and guesthouses), by cleaning companies, in domestic care for the elderly with 24-hour care, in the catering industry (restaurants and fast food) and in family households (often in Diplomats households).
Working conditions are harsh – excessive working hours, often physically demanding work, lack of health protection, insufficient rest periods and breaks, little and often controlled free time, significantly lower wages than market rates or no compensation at all are typical characteristics of exploitation. In many cases, there is no German health insurance or work-related accident insurance, and employers do not pay social security contributions.
In addition to physical exhaustion, the apparent hopelessness, feelings of helplessness and disappointment of not being able to support the family back home take their toll. Those affected experience the situation as traumatic. It is almost impossible for those affected to break out of the chain of exploitation. On the one hand, low levels of education and a lack of language skills lead to communication barriers. On the other hand, the threats posed by human traffickers and their networks, in conjunction with other manipulative means, can create complex relationships of dependency.