Human trafficking is evolving beyond traditional forms of exploitation, such as forced labour and sexual abuse. A new amending bill currently under public consultation aims to harmonise domestic legislation with EU Directive 2024/1712, explicitly expanding the statutory definition of trafficking crimes.
The most significant legislative amendment introduces three new forms of exploitation into the legal framework: the exploitation of surrogate motherhood, forced marriage, and illegal adoption. These provisions shift the legal focus beyond conventional trafficking networks, acknowledging that exploitation can also occur within practices linked to family structures, parenting, and human reproduction.
New categories of exploitation
The draft legislation does not criminalise surrogacy, adoption, or marriage in general. Instead, it specifically targets instances where these practices are weaponised as tools of coercion, deception, or financial exploitation against vulnerable individuals.
Under the new criteria, human trafficking offences will apply to cases where a woman is forced or deceived into acting as a surrogate mother, where a child is trafficked through illicit adoption procedures, or where an individual is entered into a marriage without genuine consent.
Digital technology and online crimes
The bill integrates the digital dimension of human trafficking into the penal code. The deployment of information and communication technologies to distribute images, videos, or other sexually explicit material involving a victim is designated as an aggravating circumstance.
Furthermore, the legislation mandates that law enforcement and judicial authorities tasked with investigating and prosecuting these offences must possess adequate technical expertise and technological capabilities. This provision addresses the growing trend of perpetrators utilising digital platforms for recruitment, blackmail, coercion, and the continued exploitation of victims.
Sentences reaching up to life imprisonment
Criminal penalties under the updated framework remain severe. Primary offences relating to trafficking and exploitation carry a maximum prison sentence of 25 years. In cases where the victim is a minor, courts can impose sentences up to life imprisonment.
The bill also strengthens sanctions against corporate entities involved in trafficking offences. Legal persons found liable will face exclusion from public funding, state grants, public procurement tenders, concessions, and commercial licences. Judicial authorities will also have the power to publish relevant court rulings.
Concurrently, victim protection measures are being enhanced. Victims will gain access to existing state compensation schemes for victims of violent crimes. The principle of non-prosecution is also widened, ensuring that victims are not treated as perpetrators for unlawful acts they were compelled to commit as a direct consequence of their exploitation.
For child victims, the legislation introduces frameworks for short-term and long-term support, individualised needs assessments, and tailored transition measures into adulthood, aiming to eliminate the risk of re-victimisation or re-trafficking.
