Trafficking in human beings for sexual and other purposes - Polisen

6. Analysis and recommendations406. Analysis andrecommendations6.1 IntroductionAs one of the measures in the government’s actionplan to combat prostitution and human traffickingfor sexual purposes, the Swedish National PoliceBoard received an express mandate to act as nationalrapporteur on issues related to human trafficking.The national rapporteur’s mission involves gatheringinformation about the scope of human trafficking to,within and through Sweden, analysing the situation,giving recommendations about the way traffickingcan be prevented and combated, and also reportingannually on these results to the government. 566.1.1 Proposed measures – All forms of humantraffickingFew convictions for human traffickingThere may be several reasons for there being few casesof convictions for human trafficking in Sweden.First, human trafficking legislation is complex andoften difficult to enforce. If criminal liability forhuman trafficking is to be applied, the perpetratormust, for example, show direct intent as regards theexploitation, i.e. he or she must have been intendingto exploit the victim. This requirement can make itvery difficult to apply the law when it comes to provingthe perpetrator’s intent to exploit the victim, particularlyin cases where recruitment and transporttook place outside Sweden.Second, problems arise in court when the victimdoes not stick to the story that he or she provided topolice at earlier interviews. This may lead to a reductionin the victim’s credibility and to the prosecutionbeing dismissed, unless other evidence exists.Third, it is difficult for the court to visualise thepsychological mechanisms that control victims ofhuman trafficking and that, for the victim, there was56 Government Bill 2010/11: 77, Strict punishment for the purchaseof sexual services.no real or acceptable alternative to submitting to theperpetrator’s will. The methods used by the perpetratorto control the victim’s free and genuine will oftenconsist of subtle threats and pressures. These arefacts/evidence that the victim usually talks about, butwhich cannot always be supported by other evidencein the form of written threats, for example, or by evidencefrom phone tapping or other surveillancemeasures.A fourth reason may be that some perpetratorshave changed their modi operandi in recent years.Instead of, as before, using violence and threatsagainst victims, they offer improved conditionsinstead in the form of greater freedom and a greatershare of the revenues. This often means that victimsbecome more loyal to the perpetrators and less likelyto testify against them.One or more of these factors have sometimes contributedto prosecutions concerning human traffickingnever being brought, being dismissed, or the courtmay choose a sentence at the lower end of the tariffrange or a milder offence being cited: procuring incases of suspected human trafficking for sexual purposesand usury in cases of suspected trafficking forforced labour purposes.Since the success factors in these investigations arerelatively low in comparison with other serious crimeand the penalty tariffs are low, the tariffs and not thesentences may influence the police’s future priorities.Proposed measures: To ensure that human traffickingfor various purposes can be investigated andprosecuted in the optimum way, methodology andskills development measures ought to be undertakenregularly within all law-enforcement agencies thatcome into contact with issues that concern humantrafficking. Methodology and skills developmentmeasures are particularly important for increasingknowledge of the mechanisms behind human trafficking.The skills-improvement initiatives musttherefore focus on the factors that make human traffickingpossible for various purposes, the form of