Cyprus News Agency: News in English, 11-11-25

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From: The Cyprus News Agency at <http://www.cyna.org.cy>

CONTENTS

[01] MIGS: Human trafficking on the increase in Cyprus

[01] MIGS: Human trafficking on the increase in Cyprus

On its part, the government is in the process of amending the existing legislation and integrate in it the relevant European directive, in an attempt to combat human trafficking and protect victims.

Human trafficking has taken different forms since 1980, when the first reports on such matters emerged in Cyprus, and today it appears not only in cabarets and pubs, but also in the streets, universities, massage parlors, even coffee shops, according to the Mediterranean Institute for Gender Studies (MIGS) Policy Coordinator, Jozie Christodoulou.

In an interview with CNA, she said she believes the increase in human trafficking in Cyprus is the result of prevailing social attitudes and structures.

Christodoulou notes that human trafficking in Cyprus has always been widespread although the exact number of the victims is not known, and this is, as she explains, a general problem worldwide, because human trafficking is a form of organized crime.

In Cyprus, according to Christodoulou, there has always been an increase in human trafficking, especially in human trafficking for sexual exploitation, besides labour exploitation and other purposes.

As she says, since 1980, when human trafficking first appeared in Cyprus, it has taken different forms. Human trafficking takes place in cabarets and pubs, while today it appears in the streets, in massage parlours, and according to a survey conducted by the MIGS, it also exists in universities and coffee shops, located outside cities, mostly in villages.

The victims, she notes, are mostly women, who are trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation or labour exploitation. Trafficking in women is more obvious, because men usually work outdoors, while women work in closed premises, where there is no monitoring of the situtation, and thus we dont know the number of the victims she adds. The victims are usually third country nationals, immigrants and EU nationals.

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