Cyprus’ government demonstrated “serious and sustained efforts” aimed at combating human trafficking, the US State Department revealed on Tuesday, though it urged for tougher prosecutions and jail time.  

Its 2024 Trafficking in Persons report kept Cyprus on Tier 1, which is considered to be ‘fully aligned’ with minimum standards aimed at eliminating trafficking.

Nonetheless it cautioned that the government “investigated and prosecuted fewer trafficking crimes compared with the prior year.”

Prosecutions began against seven people last year, compared to 12 in 2022, the report underlined. A total of 50 defendants continued to be prosecuted from previous years.

The report revealed that although there were more trafficking convictions, most traffickers were handed suspended sentences.

For the first time, a perpetrator was convicted for receiving services from a victim of trafficking, it said.

Concerns were raised over social welfare services who “continued to not respond in a timely manner to referrals of some potential victims.”

It warned the social welfare services “failed to refer all potential victims to police for official identification procedures, particularly after working hours or on weekends.”

The report urged Cyprus’ government to “vigorously investigate, prosecute, and convict traffickers” while seeking “adequate penalties” for those convicted, which should involve significant prison terms.

It called for judges to be trained so as to take the severity of trafficking into account when passing a sentence, while it also urged authorities to identify victims among vulnerable populations, including migrants, refugees, asylum-seekers, and agricultural workers.

Foreign victims identified in Cyprus in 2023 were from Bangladesh, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Greece, India, Nepal, Nigeria, the Philippines, and Russia.

The government’s budget for rent allowance and financial assistance for trafficking victims went down by over €100,000 in 2023. The report specified the figure was at €171,454 in 2023 down from €297,645 the previous year.

Where sex trafficking is concerned, this occurs in private apartments and hotels, on the street, and in bars, pubs, coffee shops, massage parlours, and cabarets known for the availability of commercial sex, the report unfrtlinrf.      

Traffickers subject women, primarily from Eastern Europe, South and Southeast Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa, to sex trafficking.

Additionally, traffickers exploit short-term tourist visas available to Ukrainians and Russians to recruit young women for sex trafficking in bars and private establishments and recruit some female sex trafficking victims with false promises of marriage or work as barmaids or hostesses, it added.

The report highlights foreign migrant workers – primarily from North Africa but also from South and Southeast Asia – are subject to forced labor in agriculture by traffickers.

“Employment agencies recruit and exploit migrant workers who enter the country on short-term work permits in labor trafficking. After the permits expire, traffickers use debt-based coercion, threats, and withholding of wages and documents to further exploit migrant workers.”

Domestic workers from India, Nepal, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka are particularly vulnerable to trafficking.

Traffickers subject asylum-seekers from Southeast Asia and Africa to forced labor in agriculture and domestic servitude, the report added.

Meanwhile, unaccompanied children, children of migrants, Roma, and asylum-seekers are especially vulnerable to sex trafficking and forced labour.

Romani children are vulnerable to forced begging and traffickers force Cypriots addicted to drugs and young women with disabilities to commit criminal offenses, such as distributing illegal substances and committing welfare benefits fraud, the report said.

Earlier this year, the interior ministry described Cyprus as a “destination country” for human trafficking due to its geographical location and migration flows.

Stakeholders have warned police is failing to properly investigate cases of human trafficking, amid concerns many struggle to come forward.

The corresponding US State Department report for the north details that there were no convictions, prosecutions or investigations, while no victims were identified.