‘Little Rascals’ or Not-So-Ideal Victims: Dealing with minors trafficked for exploitation in criminal activities in the Netherlands

Brenda Oude Breuil

doi:10.14197/atr.201221166

Abstract

Trafficking in minors for exploitation in criminal activities is a form of human trafficking that is generally not well-recognised and understood by frontline actors. This paper, based on empirical data from frontline actors, shows that this is also the case in the Netherlands. Moreover, the Dutch ethnicised understanding of the phenomenon, which is conceptualised as a ‘Roma’ problem, further obfuscates the identification of these trafficking cases, leading to a blind spot for victims of other ethnicities and differential treatment of itinerant ‘Roma’ victims compared to Dutch and resident victims. It also shows that there is a gender bias among frontline workers, with girls being more readily perceived as victims than boys, and interventions in the girls’ cases geared towards protection, whereas boys were seen as ‘little rascals’ that should be punished. The paper concludes that a focus on indicators of the phenomenon, rather than on victim profiles, could improve this situation and help frontline actors take more transparent as well as ethnic- and gender-neutral decisions.

Highlights

Several years ago, Milan and Krizstián, two French-speaking boys aged 12 and 14, were arrested by the Dutch police in a posh neighbourhood.[1]
Trafficking in minors for exploitation in criminal activities is a form of human trafficking that is generally not well-recognised and understood by frontline actors
I draw conclusions from the research and discuss the need to focus on characteristics of the phenomenon of trafficking in minors for exploitation in criminal activities, rather than those of the victim. This explorative research revolved around two questions: first, what knowledge on the phenomenon already exists—the definition and characteristics of trafficking in minors for exploitation in criminal activities, perpetrator and victim profiles, the extent of the problem, its societal context, and best practices in approaching victims—and secondly, how frontline actors deal with the victims.[10]

Summary

Introduction

Milan and Krizstián, two French-speaking boys aged 12 and 14, were arrested by the Dutch police in a posh neighbourhood.[1] They were suspected of having burglarised a villa, and apprehended after one of them tossed away a glove filled with jewellery during the chase. A few moments earlier, a car with a Bulgarian number plate was stopped in that same neighbourhood, following a burglary report. The driver had burglary tools in his trunk. He claimed that he had given the boys a ride, but that he did not know them; the boys said the same. This, was clumsily refuted by the driver’s son when the latter made a concerned call to the police requesting information on ‘his father and his two nephews’, after they were taken into custody

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Conclusion