Brussels (Brussels Morning) – Last month, Brussels authorities apprehended 17 suspects allegedly involved in a human trafficking ring, exploiting Vietnamese migrants in nail salons. Investigations reveal trafficking routes and plans for residence documents.
According to the Brussels Labour Audit Office,17 supposed members of a human trafficking ring were apprehended last month by Police. The suspects have been pushing Vietnamese migrants to work in nail salons in the Belgian capital for years.
As reported by Brussels Times, the arrests were pushed on 22 April: 17 linked to human trafficking and smuggling and an additional 12 related to residence status. Six of the former group have since had their pre-trial custody extended while the rest were granted conditional release. Police shut down nine nail salons in Brussels on the same day.
Who Were the Main Targets of the Trafficking Ring?
“The investigation indicates that the suspected victims are mainly from the Nghe An province in north-central Vietnam,” deputy labour prosecutor and spokesperson Valentina Marocchi conveyed to Bruzz. “After paying a large sum to the association, which has branches in several countries, they are declared to have planned the Vietnamese people’s travel to Belgium via different ‘routes’.”
These people were then accommodated and put to work in nail salons for months. They received very little payments, far below the minimum wage, “and only after they had paid off all their debts”.
How Were Victims Lured into Trafficking Routes?
The traffickers ensured the people that they would acquire residence documents, either through asylum or family reunification. Many of the people reportedly planned to continue on to the UK via France.
Numerous assessments of nail salons during this time discovered that workers (some of them minors) did not possess papers and were functioning in poor conditions where standard hygiene practices were ignored. The criminal organisation is also reckoned with money laundering. These funds were then utilised to set up the fraudulent businesses in question. “The suspects deny any involvement in this,” said Marocchi.
What Are the Key Differences Between Trafficking and Smuggling?
It is important to differentiate between human trafficking and migrant smuggling. Both crimes take advantage of weak individuals but there are some key differences (although in this instance suspects are accused of both). According to United Nations definitions, human trafficking is “the recruitment, conveyance, transfer, harbouring or receipt of people via force, fraud or deception, with the aim of exploiting them for profit.”
Meanwhile, migrant smuggling is directed to “the facilitation, for financial or other material gain, of irregular access into a country where the migrant is not a national or resident.” Migrant smugglers take benefit of individuals who wish to leave their country of origin due to aspects such as unemployment, natural disasters, conflict and persecution.
