Trafficking victims identified by the Cypriot authorities in 2014 nearly doubled, as compared with 2013, according to the 2015 Trafficking in Persons Report of the US Department of State.
The report places Cyprus onto tier 2 based on the extent of the government`s efforts to comply with the “minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking” found in Section 108 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000.
“The Government of Cyprus does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so” the report said.
It added that “during the reporting period, the government convicted three traffickers and punished them with the most stringent sentences ever issued for a trafficking crime in Cyprus since it was criminalized in 2000. Authorities launched more investigations than in 2013 and achieved the first two convictions for child sex trafficking. The government nearly doubled the number of victims identified and, despite cuts in benefits in other social welfare funding, it maintained financial resources allocated to shelter victims. Reports persisted, however, of substantial delays in the issuance of monthly public allowance checks to some victims. Male victims identified in early 2015 did not receive benefits and relied exclusively on NGOs for care. Experts reported insensitive and sometimes punitive treatment of victims by the Social Welfare Service, with some victims sent to unsuitable and exploitative jobs”.
According to the report, Cyprus is a source and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking. It said that victims identified in Cyprus in 2014 were primarily from Eastern Europe and South Asia, while in previous years, victims from Africa, Dominican Republic, and Philippines were also identified. The report noted that women, primarily from Eastern Europe, Vietnam, India, and sub-Saharan Africa, are subjected to sex trafficking which occurs in private apartments and hotels, on the street, and within commercial sex trade outlets in Cyprus including bars, pubs, coffee shops, and cabarets.
The report said that foreign migrant workers—primarily Indian and Romanian nationals—are subjected to forced labor in agriculture and that asylum seekers from Southeast Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe are subjected to forced labor in agriculture and domestic work.
Unaccompanied children, children of migrants, and asylum seekers are especially vulnerable to sex trafficking and forced labor, the report added.
Figures presented in the report showed that the government investigated 24 new cases involving 35 suspected traffickers during the reporting period, an increase compared with 15 cases involving 33 suspects in 2013 and initiated prosecutions against 15 defendants, a decrease compared with 22 in 2013. Nine traffickers were convicted compared with two in 2013 and sentences were significantly more stringent than the previous reporting period, it said.
The report noted that the court system’s mistreatment of victim witnesses and lengthy trial procedures resulted in a limited number of convictions.
It added that NGOs reported officials rarely treated labor complaints as potential trafficking cases.
The 2015 Trafficking in Persons Report noted that “the government increased efforts to protect victims” and that it “maintained financial resources allocated for victims despite cuts in other social welfare funding”.
“The government identified 46 victims of trafficking in 2014, an increase from 25 in 2013. Of the 46 victims identified, 22 were labor trafficking victims, of which 15 were men and 7 were women. The government identified 19 victims of sex trafficking, including 16 women and three children. Five additional women were victims of both labor and sex trafficking” the report said.
According to it, the Cypriot government spent 184,000 euro to operate the trafficking shelter, compared with 199,136 euro in 2013 and provided 118,066 euro in public assistance to victims who chose to stay in private apartments and were entitled to a rent subsidy and monthly allowance, compared with 262,000 euro in 2013.
The report included recommendations for Cyprus and also said that “the government maintained prevention efforts”.
It also referred to the northern area of Cyprus which is occupied by Turkish troops since the 1974 invasion.
The area “continues to be a zone of impunity for human trafficking” the report noted.
It said that the so called authorities “do not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and are not making significant efforts to do so”.
The area lacked an anti-trafficking “law” and no statistics on law enforcement efforts against trafficking offenders were kept.
There was also lack of shelters for victims, and social, economic, and psychological services for them.
Furthermore, according to the 2015 Trafficking in Persons Report, “local observers reported authorities were complicit in facilitating trafficking and police continued to retain passports upon arrival of women working in night clubs”.
The so called authorities did not allocate funding to anti-trafficking efforts, police were not trained to identify victims, and authorities provided no protection to victims, the report noted.
