New privacy laws complicate the fight against human trafficking: underage victims are often no longer registered. Cleveringa professor Corinne Dettmeijer called on everyone to be alert in her oration. 'We do not want to live in a society in which people are used as disposable objects.'
Author: Linda van Putten
The Moroccan girl who at age 7 is given to her uncle in Holland to work in his household - her entire childhood she does not go to school. The countless women from Central and Eastern Europe who are lured to the Netherlands and forced into prostitution here. Or the trade in illegally removed organs. In a full Academy Building, Dettmeijer mentioned shocking examples of modern human trafficking and slavery in her oration on Nov. 26. Dettmeijer was the National Rapporteur on Human Trafficking and Sexual Violence against Children until 2018, eleven years in a row. Human trafficking is ubiquitous in the Netherlands but often takes place in hiding, she warned.
The best-known victims of human trafficking work in prostitution. Contrary to expectations, the lifting of the brothel ban in 2000 did not reduce crime in this sector. Dettmeijer: "The empowered Dutch prostitutes on which the lifting of the brothel ban was based are hardly to be found anymore. Instead, many prostitutes are vulnerable women from Eastern and Central Europe. Their victimization is often not easy to establish. Moreover, the sale of sexual services is increasingly taking place online - 'the Internet is the new window'- which makes monitoring difficult.
The Netherlands long led the way in collecting data on human trafficking but those figures have become unreliable, Dettmeijer said. New privacy laws mean that underage victims in particular are no longer registered. 'This development hinders adequate data collection and therefore an effective approach to human trafficking.' That is why, as National Rapporteur, Dettmeijer made an 'estimate report' in 2017. Supposedly, about 6,250 people - children and adults - are victims of human trafficking in the Netherlands each year. Only just over a quarter of these are actually identified as victims. 'The rest we don't see,' the Cleveringa professor said. Underage girls and residents with a migration background are most likely to be victims.
On the day we commemorate Professor Cleveringa's courage, we must realize that we can all act against injustice, Dettmeijer said. That starts with asking critical questions. She referred to the children who do not go to school because they are forced to work in households or stores. For years, doctors, home care workers or customers come over, but no one asks aloud: why don't those children go to school? 'One person can make a difference.' Human trafficking affects not only the victims involved but undermines the entire society, Dettmeijer argued. 'We don't want to live in a society where people are used as disposable commodities. Freedom for all is the norm and the responsibility to ensure it lies with all of us.'
Prior to the oration, Rector Magnificus Carel Stolker also reflected on the importance of taking action against injustice. He looked back at that memorable day, November 26, 1940. Professor of Civil Law Eduard Meijers should have given his lecture in the Academy Building at the time, but he was forbidden to do so by the German occupiers. Law Dean Rudolph Cleveringa took his place in the pulpit and openly expressed his disgust at the dismissal. This took a lot of courage because the Germans were watching him. Cleveringa was not the only professor to protest, Stolker stressed. "Telders, Barge and Van Holk - and professors from other universities - also openly denounced this gross abuse.
This article can also be found in the Youth & Education file
Source: Leiden University
