Artikelpfad: Trafficking and Law »; .

Suchen:

In the moment there are 20 guests online.

Einfach mit PayPal: Ihre Spende an SOLWODI.

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

4. Witness protection

4.1 What scope does the public prosecutor have for abstaining from prosecuting women?

The public prosecutor can abstain from prosecuting the women for violation of the Residence Act, for instance on grounds of their illegal residence in Germany, or for another criminal misdemeanour, compare §154 c StPO. This provision is designed to encourage the women to make statements. The problem is that as soon as the women denounce offenders to the police or in the course of being questioned as witnesses, they are forced to incriminate themselves for their own offences. At this point no assurance can be given to the women regarding any possible abstention from prosecution, since the decision to apply § 154 c StPO is at the discretion of the public prosecutor. In addition, the women are frightened of being pursued by the offenders.
Requirement:
The state prosecutor must make use of the ability to refrain from prosecution of the women for violating Aliens Law, since it is a slight offence compared to the criminal offence of human trafficking. After all, the women were put into this situation (illegal residence in Germany) through human trafficking by the offenders as well as trickery, threats, blackmail and often violence. In order for the women to give evidence against their traffickers they must be sure of witness protection.

4.2 Witness protection scheme

Since the beginning of the 1990s, witness protection schemes have been run by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), the Customs Investigations Office (ZKA) and the sixteen German states’ Criminal Investigation Offices (LKÄ). They cater for witnesses at risk who are in a position to testify, not just about the progression of events leading to a criminal offence, but also about the structure of the criminal organisation concerned. There must be an unconditional willingness to testify about the woman’s own participation in the criminal offence as well. The result of this strict condition is that it is the offenders and their accomplices who are afforded witness protection, because they have an insight into the structure and are therefore in a position to make statements of the required quality.

For the reasons outlined above, victims of human trafficking seldom benefit from conventional witness protection schemes themselves, despite the risks they face: they are not in a position to give any evidence about the structures of human trafficking, so that they do not fulfil the requirements of witness protection schemes. In response to this unsatisfactory situation for trafficking victims, some German states, e.g. Rhineland Palatinate, have introduced victim protection schemes especially for victims of human trafficking. The criteria for acceptance into this programme are the victim’s status as a victim/witness, the indispensability of her testimony, the danger of her situation, and her willingness to be accept the protection scheme.

In addition to police protection, the women concerned need comprehensive and professional psychosocial counselling, which means that structured cooperation between police and the counselling agencies is required. This cooperation is supposed to be ensured by cooperation concepts in the individual German states.

Cooperation concept Germany

Cooperation concept Rhineland-Palatinate

---