Swiss centre records over 200 victims of human trafficking
A demonstration against human trafficking and modern slavery in 2022 in Lucerne
Keystone/Urs Flüeler
Last year 317 people took part in a protection programme run by the Specialist Unit for Trafficking in Women and Women’s Migration (FIZ) in German-speaking Switzerland. Three-quarters of the cases involved victims of human trafficking.
Almost three-quarters of trafficked persons were exploited in the sex trade, FIZ said on Monday. Just over 10% were exploited in the domestic and care work sector. Compared to the previous year, the number of cases of human trafficking fell from 259 to 238.
Of the identified victims of human trafficking, 206 were female, 13 were transgender and 19 were male, according to FIZ. Thirty-four victims received inpatient care in one of seven FIZ shelters, while the others received outpatient support. FIZ counted a total of 4,716 overnight stays in its shelters in 2023.
A quarter of all 317 cases in the FIZ victim protection programme involved people who are undergoing asylum proceedings in Switzerland, according to the report. Those affected by the human trafficking and asylum programme came from 34 countries. Most of the new referrals came from Somalia, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Around 30% of the migrant women advised by FIZ were victims of domestic violence.
Translated from German by DeepL/ts
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Living longer: What do you think about the longevity trend?
The longevity market is booming thanks in part to advances in the science of ageing. What do you think of the idea of significantly extending human lifespan?
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.