Human trafficking in Slovakia

rdf:langString Human trafficking in Slovakia

rdf:langString Slovak Republic is a source, transit, and limited destination country for women and girls from Moldova, Ukraine, Bulgaria, the Balkans, the Baltics, and China trafficked to Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Sweden, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Croatia, and Slovenia for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Men from Vietnam were trafficked to Slovakia for the purpose of forced labor. Roma women and girls from Slovakia are trafficked internally for sexual exploitation. The Government of the Slovak Republic does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. The government allocated $91,000 for anti-trafficking efforts in 2007, an increase from $60,000 in 2006. In February 2008, police began investigating the country’s first identified labor trafficking case involving eight Vietnamese nationals forced to work in a cigarette factory in Bratislava. The government also made efforts to improve victim identification and assistance referral. However, the number of victims assisted by government- funded programs decreased in 2007. U.S. State Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons placed the country in "Tier 1" in 2018, but in 2019 and 2020, it was listed as a "Tier 2".