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What are the problems in prosecuting human trafficking – or, why do so many offenders get away with it?

3. What are the effects of German Aliens Law for human trafficking victims?

Women from other EU states cannot be investigated for violation of the German Residence Act on the grounds of their residence in the Federal Republic, since they have a limited residence permit at least and often also have a work permit. If these women say that they are prostituting themselves willingly, the police have no grounds for investigating against possible offenders.
On the other hand, all women from non-EU states can be picked up by the police during raids or checks for having no residence and work permits and taken in for questioning.
When the police question the women in the protected premises of the police station, out of reach of the perpetrators in other words, they have the chance to find out whether the women are victims of traffickers.

If police investigators have grounds for thinking that a woman who is not an EU citizen could be the victim of trafficking, this information will be passed on to the Aliens Department. This will set a deadline of at least one month for departing the country § 50 Abs. 2a AufenthG. During this period the woman can make up her mind whether she is prepared to speak out against the offenders in court and she cannot be deported for violating Aliens Law. During this time she is also eligible for support from professional counsellors.

When this consideration period has expired, the following scenarios are possible:

• The woman is unwilling to testify and has to leave the country. If her testimony appears important to the investigating authorities, because the woman is a victim or witness of human trafficking, she can be questioned before her departure.
• The woman is ready to testify, but wants to go back to her own country. In this case, she can be questioned as a witness and depart thereafter. If her evidence still seems important to the public prosecutor’s office, she can be required to travel back to Germany to testify in court.
• The woman is prepared to testify, also in court. If her testimony seems important to the public prosecutor’s office or criminal court, she can be given a limited residence permit, §25 Abs. 4a AfenthG, and will be taken into the police witness support scheme.
• The woman is prepared to testify, but her statement is regarded as insignificant by the public prosecutor or criminal court. After the one-month period of reflection she must leave Germany.

Good cooperation between specialist counsellors and the police is an essential prerequisite for identifying victims as such, for the women, after bad experiences with the police and judiciary in their home countries, often have a deep distrust of the German authorities. This is why it is important that employees of non-state counselling agencies are brought into the process at an early stage to stabilise the women and offer them protection and advice during a phase of confidence-building.

Almost all German states now have concepts for cooperation between counselling agencies and the police to map out cooperation procedure. Despite the difficulties in putting this into practice, cooperation concepts have already been shown to have a positive effect on counselling and protecting trafficking victims.

Cooperation concept Germany

Cooperation concept Rhineland Palatinate

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