The report focusses on the victims of trafficking and smuggling, more specific on non-punishment of these victims.

Nothwithstanding the principle of non-punishment, laid down in the European Directive 2011/36/EU on prevention and combatting human trafficking and the protection of victims, reality in Belgian learns that still much is to be improved on this issue.

Maria-Graza Giammarinaro, special representative for human trafficking of the OSCE and Freddy Roosemont, director-general of the Belgian Immigration Office, close the Focus with their contributions on the topic.

Further, the report presents evolutions in human trafficking and the fight against the phenomenon.

For the Centre, these annual reports act as a tool to assess and give impetus to the Belgian policy in the fight against trafficking in and smuggling of human beings. The Centre thus fulfils its legal remit by taking on the de facto role of “national rapporteur on trafficking in human beings”.

The report is available in Dutch and in French.