Police ‘work against each other’ in fight against human trafficking

Federal migration centre Myria has released a report stating that federal and Brussels police departments are “working against each other” in the fight against human trafficking and underage prostitution.

The report is focused on girls and women from Nigeria working in the red light district around North Station in Brussels. Many have been promised a better life in Europe only to find themselves threatened and forced to pay off debts to human traffickers once they have arrived.

Federal police carry out inspections in the area repeatedly, working to gain the trust of the girls and get them to testify against their bosses. If they become witnesses, they can enter a victims’ assistance programme and get a residency permit.

Brussels police, however, put an emphasis on illegal residency, often raiding the district and arresting the girls or bringing them to a refugee centre. In one case mentioned in the report, a Nigerian minor working in the red light district went to the police in Brussels and wound up in jail.

This, Stef Janssens of Myria told Bruzz, can destroy the federal police’s chances of reaching that girl, or any others. “The local police aren’t always familiar with the finer points of human trafficking,” he said.

Mayor ‘couldn’t care less’

Chief inspector Johan Debut of the North police zone’s trafficking division said that Brussels police should be working more along the lines of the federal police. A change of policy in 2015 should have assured that the focus on illegal immigration be dropped in favour of tackling the problem at the root and going after the smugglers.

Debut said that a prostitution division was being launched in the North police zone, which should improve the situation. But the federal police’s work could also be improved, said Janssens, by better structuring its current work with a Nigerian translator and former sex worker, who is greatly helpful in gaining the trust of the girls in the Brabant neighbourhood.

Finally, he said, the Schaerbeek and Saint-Josse city councils could be better versed on the situation in their municipalities. Saint-Josse mayor Emir Kir, said Janssens, “couldn’t care less about human trafficking”.

Photo: Siska Gremmelprez/BELGA