In recent weeks, law enforcement, border guards, and labour and tax authorities across Europe have joined forces to identify and combat labour exploitation. This recent edition of the EMPACT Joint Action Days focused on human trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation, with special emphasis on the agricultural sector, gastronomy, and temporary employment agencies.

In particular, the authorities involved also took measures against the exploitation of third-country nationals and refugees. Led by France and the Netherlands, and carried out by authorities from 32 countries with the support of Europol and the European Labour Authority (ELA), the action days resulted in the arrest of 54 individuals and the identification of 404 potential victims of human trafficking.
Generally, the results of the action include:
• 22,296 officers from law enforcement and labour and tax authorities who participated in the action.
• 194,995 entities checked (including 73,218 individuals, 11,815 locations, 26,412 vehicles, and 83,958 documents).
• 93 individuals suspected of human trafficking identified (of which 92 for labour exploitation).
• 54 people arrested for various crimes (of which 44 for labour exploitation).
• 404 potential victims of human trafficking identified (of which 393 potential victims of labour exploitation).
• 341 new investigations in various crimes initiated (of which 43 are for labour exploitation).
The aim of this recurrent action is for the authorities to focus on the most relevant or widespread forms of labour exploitation in their respective countries. Inspections were carried out across a wide range of sectors, such as catering, gastronomy, food delivery, food and meat processing, beauty services, domestic healthcare, logistics and distribution, agriculture, construction, and mining.
Some countries have confirmed various modus operandi in human trafficking for agricultural and labour exploitation. These include discrepancies between employee payments and working hours, violations of minimum wage laws, undeclared work, illegal schemes operated by temporary employment agencies, breaches of maximum working hours, poor housing conditions provided by employers, the employment of minors, debt bondage, and work without permits. In addition, third-country nationals may use similar documents, counterfeit passports, and counterfeit residence permits. In general, cases of labour exploitation and forced labour are significantly underreported and do not reflect the true magnitude of the problem.
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