Nicosia, Cyprus. Foreign workers in Cyprus are nearly three times more likely than Cypriots to be subjected to forced labour, according to figures presented at an event marking World Day Against Human Trafficking on Thursday. They account for around 9 per cent of the country’s workforce.
Training and prevention
Katerina Stefanou, head of the Step Up Stop Slavery initiative, said Cyprus already had legislation and mechanisms to combat human trafficking, but their effectiveness depended on cooperation among all relevant stakeholders.
She said the Host project had trained more than 400 municipal employees, over 300 hospitality workers and more than 500 migrant workers to identify trafficking cases, understand labour rights and access available support mechanisms.
European figures
Alexis Pantelidis, an official at the European Commission Representation in Cyprus, described human trafficking as a serious and constantly evolving crime across the European Union.
Official figures record around 10,000 victims each year in the EU, he said, although the actual number is believed to be significantly higher because many cases are not reported.
Pantelidis said labour exploitation accounted for 36 per cent of recognised trafficking cases in the EU. In Cyprus, foreign workers make up almost 40 per cent of the hospitality workforce, compared with around 9 per cent of the labour force overall.
Employment risks
Justice ministry representative Andreas Hatzigeorgiou said the hospitality and tourism sector was an important pillar of the Cypriot economy and that increased labour demand required safe and fair employment conditions.
Workers from third countries could face greater risks of exploitation because of unclear recruitment practices, language barriers, limited awareness of their rights and dependence on individual employers, he said.
Human trafficking for labour exploitation was a flagrant violation of fundamental human rights and human dignity, Hatzigeorgiou said, adding that economic development could not be built at the expense of workers’ protection and rights.
Need for cooperation
In an online address, Susan Kerr, head of the Human Rights Department at the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, said preventing exploitation required cooperation between governments, civil society, migrant communities and the private sector.
