Contributed by: Branislava Vargová, Czech National VAW Monitor (ROSA)

The report “Trafficking and Exploitation in the Czech Republic” is one of the first studies in this field in the Czech Republic. It summarizes results from the research from 2005 and describes Czech, and to certain extents also international legal provisions and other measures to restrain trafficking and exploitation.

The study first shows information about citizenship of trafficked and exploited persons, and about forms of coercion used in order to keep people in unequal and imbalanced power relationships. Research shows that one of the main factors which enables exploitation is the impossibility to protect rights of abused persons because of uncertain status / permission to stay in the country. Generally speaking, in the context of exploitation and forced labour of foreigners, punishment for breaking immigration rules is emphasized much more than protection of their rights.

Widespread forms of coercion are abuse of victim’s predicament or dependence. It is contained in the Czech criminal code definition of oppression (forcing other person to do something, to forbear to do something or bear something, connected with abuse of victim’s predicament or dependence). According to the report, this provision is not used in practice in context of punishment of forced labour. In the Czech criminal code forced labour is not defined as a crime and there is no definition of forced labour in other provisions. This makes it very difficult to punish it and to implement the prohibition of it.

Direct violence and restriction of personal freedom as forms of coercion are presented mainly in field of prostitution. Other forms used in different sectors are retention of wage and threatening to report the person to the immigration or other offices.

The research has been financially supported by European Commission program AGIS and has been realized in international partnership with organizations Anti-Slavery International (UK) and Migrants Rights Centre (Ireland), Association for help for victims of crime APAV (Portugal) and La Strada (Czech Republic). The research was carried out also in countries of these project partners. The report from the results of all studies will be available in October 2006.

The research study is available online (in Czech):

Obchod s lidmi a nucená ci vykoristující práce v Ceské republice, Petra Burcíková, La Strada Ceská republika (PDF, p. 52)

Compiled from: Výzkum o obchodu s lidmi, Gender Studies.