Over 40 trafficking victims identified last year

Last year, 42 trafficking victims were identified in Cyprus, according to a report released on Friday by the NGO ‘Cyprus Stop Trafficking’.

Out of the 42 official cases, 17 related to sex trafficking, 20 to labour trafficking while five people were involved in sham marriages.

At a news conference on Friday, interior ministry permanent secretary Constantinos Nicolaides said that 2014 was the first time that three convictions on trafficking had been secured.

“Putting a stop to this heinous crime is one of our top priorities at the interior ministry. These convictions give us hope that trafficking will be eliminated,” he said.

Nicolaides also noted that according to new legislation passed in 2014, acquiring services from a trafficked person – provided that there was reasonable suspicion that the person was indeed a trafficking victim – was also considered a crime.

The new legislation, he said, also provided a security net for the trafficking victim ensuring that they had access to medical services including psychological treatment, housing and education.

It also provides for a victim support fund financed through the fines collected from court decisions, charity events and sponsorships.
“We hope that by collaborating, the authorities and NGOs will be able to tackle this problem as best as we can,” he said.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.