Trafficking in human beings for sexual and other purposes - Polisen

6. Analysis and recommendations46tral register when they commit crimes. When childrenare apprehended in connection with committingthefts or shoplifting in Sweden, they often tell thesame story (taught to them by the traffickers) thatthey are only in Sweden for a visit.The level of knowledge within police authoritiesalso varies as regards trafficking in children with theintention of using them to commit crimes. This isprobably because the phenomenon is relatively new inSweden. Interviews with the children indicate thatthey have been brought up by the perpetrators to gaina criminal identity, as a result of which current interviewmethods have to be adapted. Since the childrenare trained from an early age to commit crimes, theyhave also been taught not to cooperate with theauthorities and not to give any information that couldentrap perpetrators. Another problem is that the traffickershave, in many cases, tied the children to thememotionally, often through the use of force or manipulation.For that reason, the children often try toescape from the institutions in which they have beenplaced in order to make contact with the perpetrators.As a result of this manipulation, the children donot trust the authorities and the police in particular.Overall, this results in lengthy preliminary investigationsin which the chances of bringing a case to trialare relatively limited.Proposed measures: According to Sweden’s internationalcommitments under the conventions concerninghuman trafficking, it should be noted that thecrimes committed by girls and boys when they arecontrolled by traffickers should not automaticallylead to punishment 64 . The previously proposed skillbuildinginitiatives should also include increasedknowledge of the different possibilities in the Swedishregulations to omit imposing penalties on victimswho have been forced to engage in criminal activity 65 .Proposed measures: Society has major, overallresponsibility for protecting these children from continuedabuse. Studies need to be carried out to makea thorough analysis of the knowledge that ought toand can be obtained by the judicial system if childrenand young people in Sweden have been subject totrafficking for other purposes, in order to find outwhat methods might provide high quality information.64 Council of Europe Convention on the Suppression of Traffickingin Human Beings, Article 26.65 Chapter 23 § 5 and Chapter 29 § 6 of the Penal Code. For moreinformation see “Provisions on the waiving of a penalty,” SOU2008:41 Human trafficking and child marriage p. 282-283.