Rome, 28 July (LaPresse) – Around 9,500 victims of trafficking[2] were identified in 2024 across European Union countries, mostly in France and Italy, followed by the Netherlands and Germany. Minors account for 16 per cent of the total number of cases identified, with 1,555 victims under the age of 18, an increase compared with 2023, when child victims of trafficking made up 12.8 per cent of the total, amounting to 1,358 children and adolescents. In the vast majority of cases (77%), the victims were girls, totalling 1,194. Among minors, the highest number of identified cases was recorded in France, with 488 cases, followed by Romania (333) and Germany (230). In Italy, 65 child victims were identified in 2024, accounting for 3.4 per cent of the total number of identified victims of trafficking. In just over half of the cases (54 per cent), the victims were girls and adolescents, totalling 35 minors. In Italy, the trafficking and exploitation of children continue to be a largely hidden reality, involving both international migration flows – as the country serves as a transit hub and destination for child victims of trafficking – and domestic contexts of social vulnerability. These are the figures released, as it does every year, by Save the Children – the international organisation that has been fighting for over 100 years to save children at risk and ensure they have a future – to mark World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, which falls on 30 July.
Children: Save the Children – over 1,500 victims of trafficking identified in Europe
Rome, 28 July (LaPresse) – Around 9,500 victims of trafficking[2] were identified in 2024 across European Union countries, mostly in France and Italy, followed by the Netherlands and Germany. Minors account for 16 per cent of the total number of cases identified, with 1,555 victims under the age of 18, an increase compared with 2023, when child victims of trafficking made up 12.8 per cent of the total, amounting to 1,358 children and adolescents. In the vast majority of cases (77%), the victims were girls, totalling 1,194. Among minors, the highest number of identified cases was recorded in France, with 488 cases, followed by Romania (333) and Germany (230). In Italy, 65 child victims were identified in 2024, accounting for 3.4 per cent of the total number of identified victims of trafficking. In just over half of the cases (54 per cent), the victims were girls and adolescents, totalling 35 minors. In Italy, the trafficking and exploitation of children continue to be a largely hidden reality, involving both international migration flows – as the country serves as a transit hub and destination for child victims of trafficking – and domestic contexts of social vulnerability. These are the figures released, as it does every year, by Save the Children – the international organisation that has been fighting for over 100 years to save children at risk and ensure they have a future – to mark World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, which falls on 30 July.
