One morning, J. she came alone to their Polyclinic Doctors of the World in Athens looking for accommodation. A 22-year-old girl with hemiplegia on the right side, a disability that barely allowed her to balance. She was clearly overwhelmed and very reserved. The Women’s CenterA Step Forward” was greeted by a wounded woman, unable to trust people and believe in the help offered.

The path of J. from the small province of the Democratic Republic of Congo where he comes from to Athens, it was a nightmare. Orphaned since the age of 7, she was taken under the “protection” of a relative who sexually exploited her. She lived in prison and suffered repeated forms of abuse and torture for more than 10 years. Chronic sexual exploitation led J. in unwanted pregnancies, she became pregnant and gave birth to two children, who were taken from her.

At 17 she was released from child sexual exploitation ring, informing her that she had to travel to Turkey. J. she then thinks that the nightmare will end, but upon arriving in Turkey, her trafficker “handed her over” to a new human trafficking network (human trafficking). For about four years, he has been on a non-stop compulsion sex work, only comes into contact with people from their circle and network. The traffickers they hold her cards, she has no escape route.

Until one day, as the slave traders took her to “work”, she tries to escape. And then he is subjected to a new round of torture. They lead her to motor disability. A few weeks later J. arrives in Greece and through her compatriots came to Open Polyclinic of Doctors of the World.

The Doctors of the World team provided her with the required health care and undertook her rehabilitation by providing psychosocial support, physiotherapy and housing services. Gradually her health showed significant improvement.

“Do you see this?” she said one day in one of the sessions with the social worker, pointing to the right side of her body: “It’s the punishment because I tried to leave. With punches and kicks they did this to me. They left me halfway. To them I existed only to be exploited. Since I was of no use to them, they released me. They left me unconscious in the middle of a street, maybe they thought I was dead, but they left anyway and I hope I never meet them again.”

J. today she is free and employed thanks to the skills she acquired during her stay at “A Step Forward” Center. At the same time, she helps women with traumatic experiences similar to hers to find the strength to stand on their own two feet, just as she was able to. Her story is a testament to modern slavery, which still holds captive many children and other young people from sub-Saharan Africa and beyond.

©GtK-Greece – A Step Forward

The United Nations have dedicated this year’s World Day Against Trafficking in Human Beings to child victims. According to their official data for 2023, after all, the number of people forcibly displaced due to wars, persecution, violence and also natural disasters saw a big rise and, as reported by Doctors of the World, “the more forced migration increases, the more the phenomenon swells, the more the risk of exploitation and victimization increases, the more the trafficking intensifies, with the most vulnerable populations being children and women”.

The victims of trafficking in Greece and the rest of the world

Globally, and in terms of forms of exploitation, women still constitute the highest percentage of victims of trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Almost 2/3 of victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation found worldwide are women and 27% are girls. Additionally, 9% of identified victims of sexual exploitation are men, including boy victims.

The relevant United Nations research for 2022 (GLOBAL REPORT ON TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS 2022 – UNODC) showed that women and children suffer more violence at the hands of traffickers. Analysis of court cases reveals that female victims are subjected to physical or extreme violence by traffickers at three times the rate of male victims.

In Greece, the Report of the National Reporting Mechanism for the Protection of Victims of Human Trafficking (EMA-EKKA) for 2023, states that the 449 new cases (out of a total of 533) recorded in the Mechanism concern women and girls and 84 men and boys . Evidence that confirms the gender dimension of the phenomenon, in accordance with the image that is captured on a global level.

©GtK-Greece – A Step Forward

With reference to the Greek territory, according to the report of the National Center for Social Solidarity (EKKA) for 2023, it is worth mentioning that 25 cases concern victims of the extensive operation of a ring of illegal egg removal and exploitation of surrogacy, who were identified and rescued while they were under exploitation. The victims in question, in their majority, came from Eastern European countries.

The use of technology by the perpetrators was also recorded as a rising trend, mainly during the stage of recruitment, i.e. the initial approach to the victims, with a relevant mention on social media, such as Facebook and Instagram, while cases of pornography of minors were reported, where the stage of exploitation exclusively electronic means were used for the creation, dissemination or possession of the relevant material.

The “A Step Forward” Center

According to the data of the National Reporting Mechanism (EMA), in 2023 in Greece a total of 249 adults (242 women + 7 men) and 24 children (23 girls + 1 boy) were victims of human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation, with the trafficking that took place exclusively in Greece and included 83 women.

“The recorded numbers do not, however, reflect the true extent of the phenomenon, as we are largely dealing with hidden victimsespecially among the refugee-immigrant population, which they are often afraid and even more often they don’t even have a chance to reveal their problem“, she says President of Doctors of the World Hara Giuvara.

She adds: “It is characteristic that, in 2023, out of the total 470 adults and 108 minors victims of any form of human trafficking (sexual, labor, slavery, removal of organs, etc.) recorded by the EMA, according to the authorities (from the simple statement to the Police until the trial) was only 99. In fact, in the two years 2013-2014 the EKKA together with Civil Society Organizations developed a more sensitive mechanism for cases that cannot be addressed directly to the prosecuting authorities”.

Hara Tziuvara – President Doctors of the World

Regarding the situation in Greece, the president of Doctors of the World emphasizes: “Asylum seekers and children are population groups more vulnerable to the risk of exploitation, both because of their socio-economic background and because of the great uncertainty regarding their status of stay in the country ». At the same time, he explains that the Open Accommodation Center “A Step Forward” operated by the Doctors of the World, comes to cover the deficits and difficulties faced by the state sector by providing shelter to women and children with multiple vulnerabilities that make them more exposed to the risk of exploitation.

“Through the structure,” as Ms. Giuvara says, “a holistic intervention is made towards the women being served and their children. Recognizing the needs through an integrated case management model that involves the synergy of social workers, mental health counselors, lawyers, educators and mediators, from mid-2020 until the end of 2023 Doctors of the World served a total of 277 people, of whom 162 were women and 115 children”.

The new operating cycle of “A Step Forward” started in June 2024 in collaboration with the General Secretariat of Vulnerable Citizens and Institutional Protection of the Ministry of Immigration and Asylum and the Swiss Immigration Secretariat.

On the part of the state sector, the General Secretary for Vulnerable Citizens and Institutional Protection, Herakles Moscownotes: “We support a new national action plan to combat exploitation and human trafficking, emphasizing the synergies of the organized State and Civil Society.

We are fully aware that our work to be effective must move on two levels: in providing direct support to victims and vulnerable people, but also in optimal coordination with all co-competent ministries to improve the response of the State in meeting the needs them, for the fight against gender discrimination, gender-based violence and human trafficking, but also for the effective prosecution and punishment of the perpetrators”.

Herakles Moscow

Factors such as poverty and the lack of a support network have been shown to increase the risk of women and children being cheated.

Official figures also record many cases in which the adult victim escaped alone, however, the large number of child and adult victims who escaped with the help of a third party is far from negligible.

This fact “demonstrates the need to continue and also intensify efforts to raise public awareness of the issue, since citizens may contribute catalytically even to the identification of a victim”, records the annual report of National Center for Social Solidarity. The intervention of the Authorities in freeing both adult and child victims from the trafficking situation was also important, a fact which is linked to the deconstruction of criminal organizations by the the Greek police., within 2023,
but also the arrest of individual perpetrators.

Structures like that of “A Step Forward” that implement good practices for the reception and integration of victims into Greek society, with psychosocial assistance services and counseling, psychological support as well as creative employment, but also legal information, are not only an important step for the defense of victims’ rights, but also give hope for new initiatives in the future.