In 2021, national police and the Civil Guard reported a notable toll of trafficking-related victims, including cases involving sexual and labor exploitation. The Home Office highlighted that 1,056 people were released from crime networks connected to these offenses, a figure that also included two very young girls among the survivors. This data comes from a detailed balance of trafficking and exploitation spanning 2017 to 2021, prepared by the Ministry of the Interior through its Intelligence Center for Combating Terrorism and Organized Crime (CITCO).
The balance clarifies that 187 individuals were identified as being smuggled into the country and then controlled by networks dedicated to sexual or labor exploitation. A further 869 people were subjected to exploitation, but it could not be conclusively linked to a specific trafficking network in every case.
Between 2021 and 2024, authorities carried out 226 operations against human trafficking and related crimes, including 174 actions aimed at trafficking networks and 152 targeting sexual and labor exploitation. In these efforts, 64 criminal organizations or groups were dismantled and 663 individuals were arrested.
From the overall picture, 136 victims (129 women, 5 men, and 2 children) were identified as having been released from networks involved in sexual exploitation. The main countries of origin for these victims were Colombia, Paraguay, Romania, and Venezuela.
Conversely, the report notes that 355 people were rescued in cases of sexual abuse, comprising 342 adult women, 9 boys, and 4 girls. The majority of these rescued individuals originated from Colombia, Spain, the Dominican Republic, and Romania.
Throughout 2021, the National Police and the Civil Guard conducted 1,380 administrative inspections at workplaces tied to prostitution. These checks helped identify 4,704 people at risk of prostitution in these settings.
Regarding labor exploitation networks, 51 victims were released, of whom 33 were women, with most victims originating from Honduras. In total, the number of victims rescued from labor exploitation reached 514 in 2021, including two minors. The majority of confirmed cases involved male victims (392 adults and one minor), with Morocco, Senegal, and Nicaragua representing the principal nationalities.
As part of the ongoing effort, the National Police and the Civil Guard conducted 5,218 administrative inspections across multiple work sites. These inspections found 13,836 workers at risk of possible violations of their right to work.
These findings helped catalyze the National Strategic Plan for 2021-2023 against Trafficking and Exploitation in Human Beings, announced by the Ministry of the Interior on January 12. The plan, accessible on the Ministry’s site, strengthens measures to combat this crime and to provide support and protection for victims through a coordinated mechanism among various state bodies and civil society organizations that specialize in the area.