Menschenhandel und Ausbeutung von Arbeitskräften

Migrant workers are particularly at risk of labour exploitation. Workplace inspectors play a role in protecting non-EU workers' rights. This report guides inspectors to identify abuse and protect migrant workers. In autumn 2024, FRA will publish a manual with extensive resources to support workplace inspectors.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine posed new challenges for the EU. Millions were forced to flee the war. As a result of the scale of people’s displacement, the EU activated for the first time the Temporary Protection Directive (TPD). More than 1.3 million children sought international protection in the EU. This bulletin explores the respect, protection and fulfilment of the fundamental rights of displaced children and ways to safeguard their rights. The third in a series, this bulletin builds on the evidence in FRA’s Bulletin #1 and #2 on the experiences of displaced people seeking safety in the EU.

Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine triggered scenes not seen in Europe for decades. It has since caused death, immense destruction, and unspeakable suffering. It also set in motion a mass movement of people not seen since World War II. To protect them, the EU activated the Temporary Protection Directive for the first time. In doing so, all EU Member States must offer protection to those displaced from Ukraine.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine triggered solidarity from EU governments, local authorities and society as they welcomed more than 7 million people fleeing the aggression. The European Union’s rapid response, activating the EU Temporary Protection Directive, offered welcome relief and much-needed support to those in need. It allowed displaced persons the opportunity to quickly settle and to work, travel and access services across the EU. But other pressing human rights issues have come to the fore and remain high on the EU’s agenda, such as human trafficking, sexual and gender-based violence, hate crime and hate-fuelled disinformation.

The Employers Sanctions Directive was primarily enacted to dissuade employers from recruiting migrants in an irregular situation, but it also contains provisions to protect workers. It facilitates access to justice for exploited workers and sets out workers’ rights to claim back payment of outstanding wages. The directive also contains provisions to enhance the effectiveness of labour inspections. This report describes how the 25 Member States bound by the directive have been implementing its protective provisions, focusing on the impact these provisions have on migrant workers in an irregular situation who are victims of exploitation and other labour
law violations.

Workers are being severely exploited for their labour across the EU, and
inspections are not effective at stopping this reality. Based on interviews with
almost 240 workers – including non-EU citizens who came to the EU and
EU nationals who moved to another EU country to work – a new FRA report
outlines the problem and identifies ways to bolster inspections.

The stories of the domestic workers FRA interviewed for this paper reveal appalling working conditions and fundamental rights abuses in private homes across the EU. These stories indicate that, seven years on from FRA’s first report on domestic workers in 2011, little has changed in terms of the risks and experiences of severe labour exploitation domestic workers in the EU face.

Die Ausbeutung von Arbeitskräften ist kein vereinzelt auftretendes oder nebensächliches
Phänomen. Aber ungeachtet ihrer weiten Verbreitung und Alltäglichkeit haben schwere Arbeitsausbeutung
und ihre negativen Auswirkungen auf Drittstaatsangehörige und EU-BürgerInnen –
als Arbeitskräfte, aber auch als VerbraucherInnen – bislang bei WissenschaftlerInnen kaum
Beachtung gefunden. Im Rahmen der umfangreichen Feld- und Sekundärforschung der FRA
wurden die unterschiedlichen strafrechtlich relevanten Formen der schweren Ausbeutung von
Arbeitskräften aus anderen EU-Mitgliedstaaten oder Drittstaaten erstmals umfassend untersucht. Ziel war es, die diesbezüglichen Wissenslücken zu schließen und das derzeit herrschende
Klima der stillschweigenden Akzeptanz schwerer Arbeitsausbeutung in Frage zu stellen.

Worker exploitation is not an isolated or marginal phenomenon. But despite its pervasiveness in everyday life, severe labour exploitation and its adverse effects on third-country nationals and EU citizens - as workers, but also as consumers - have to date not received much attention from researchers.

Dieser Report ist das Ergebnis eines Projekts der FRA zum Thema Migranten in einer irregulären Situation. Als erster von zwei thematischen Reports nimmt er Ergebnisse eines umfassenden Reports über die Grundrechte von Migranten in irregulären Situationen in der EU vorweg.

Menschenhandel ist ein großes problem in der EU und weltweit. Jährlich werden viele Kinder Opfen von Menschenhandel für sexuelle oder Ausbeutung oder andere Zwecke. Gerichtsurteile werden Kinderhandel sind jedoch selten. Der Bericht betont, dass die EU in diesem Bereich mehr unternehmen muss. Aus diesem Grund schlägt die FRA vor, bessere Gesetze gegen Kinderhandel und für den Opferschutz zu verabschieden.