Child Trafficking in Spain

Madrid, Spain

From EITB:

There are 1.2 million child victims of human trafficking per year around the world, according to data given by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

Children are used as an economic profit source by organized crime. Trafficking of minors is a prosperous business, which moves 40 billion dollars a year. For under age children alone, the profit reaches 23.5 million euros a year.

"Children are easier to recruit, convince and move and therefore, due to the low costs, they generate an enormous economic profit."

"A child begging in Vienna or Madrid can earn a hundred euros a day, while girls who are forced to prostitute themselves generate profits of 1,000 to 3,000 euros a week. If we take into account that a procurer pays around 3,000 euros a day for each girl, he will have paid off the purchase in a week and he will obtain profits from then on."

In declarations to journalists before taking part in a child trafficking congress organized by Save the Children, Liliana Orjuela, who is in charge of the organization has explained that child exploitation does not only happen in the Global South but also in Europe, especially in poor countries like Romania or former Soviet republics, where there are many at risk minors.

According to local police, in Spain there are around 20,000 minors who have been forced into prostitution, begging or who have been victims of international crime nets which have used them for labor exploitation, illegal adoptions or even organ trafficking. According to Save the Children and Spanish Net against human trafficking data, 50,000 women and girls are victims of human trafficking in Spain. They come from Morocco, Sub-Saharan Africa, eastern countries, Brazil and Central America, and are brought to Spain where "there is great demand."

*Edited for readability