Vigorously investigate and prosecute trafficking crimes and seek adequate penalties for convicted traffickers, which should involve significant prison terms. * Improve sentencing practices by increasing training to judges about the severity of trafficking crimes and the importance of applying the stringent penalties available under the trafficking law. * Ensure equitable treatment of victims by creating a national identification and referral guideline for all forms of trafficking across all states. * Ensure systematic and continuous anti-trafficking training for immigration officers to increase proactive victim identification among vulnerable populations, including undocumented migrants and asylum-seekers. * Ensure systematic provision of care for child victims and extend more specialized care, services, and sufficient accommodations for male victims. * Ensure victims are not inappropriately penalized solely for unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being trafficked. * Increase awareness of and trafficking survivor access to damages and compensation and increase prosecutor’s efforts to systematically request restitution for victims during criminal trials. * Continue to increase funding for NGOs that provide survivor care and assistance. * Adopt an anti-trafficking NAP and dedicate resources to its implementation. * Increase the capacity of investigators, prosecutors, and courts with specific expertise on trafficking cases to minimize delays in bringing cases to trial and consider additional dedicated human trafficking units. * Establish a uniform and comprehensive data collection system, including publicly available disaggregated data on sentencing when courts convict defendants of trafficking and other grave crimes. * Consistently enforce strong regulations and oversight of labor recruitment companies, including by eliminating recruitment fees charged to migrant workers and holding fraudulent labor recruiters criminally accountable. * Consider appointing a national coordinating body, responsible for sex and labor trafficking, to increase harmonization of the institutional framework and coordination structures at the federal and state levels. * Increase survivor engagement, including by establishing accessible mechanisms for receiving and providing compensation for survivor input when forming policies, programs, and trainings. * Increase efforts to pursue financial crime investigations in tandem with human trafficking charges.

The government increased law enforcement efforts. The criminal code criminalized sex trafficking and labor trafficking under Sections 232, 232(a), 232(b), 233, and 233(a) and prescribed punishments of six months to 10 years’ imprisonment, which were sufficiently stringent and, with regard to sex trafficking, commensurate with penalties prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape. The law did not require proof of force or coercion to prosecute suspected sex traffickers when victims were younger than 21 years old. State law enforcement completed 388 pre-trial trafficking investigations of 586 suspects in 2022, the most recent year for which the government had comprehensive statistics; this was a significant increase compared with 335 investigations into 470 suspects in 2021, but similar to 386 investigations into 602 suspects in 2018. Of the investigations in 2022, 42 were for labor trafficking (compared with 44 in 2021 and 34 in 2020), including one for forced begging and seven for forced criminality, while 346 were for sex trafficking (compared with 291 in 2021), including at least 49 investigations for child sex trafficking. In 2022, law enforcement initiated investigations into eight organized crime groups (four for sex trafficking and four for labor trafficking); a decrease compared with 16 in 2021. In 2022, law enforcement completed the investigation of a large-scale labor trafficking and exploitation case in the beverage logistics sector, where a criminal network exploited at least 555 victims through complex subcontracting chains.

For each case in which a court convicted a defendant of multiple crimes, the government recorded it only under the charge with the highest statutory sentence. Therefore, reported statistics did not include cases in which the court convicted a defendant of trafficking and where that defendant received an aggregate sentence for another crime carrying a higher statutory sentence. Current data collection classification and procedures, in addition to strict privacy laws, continued to result in incomplete data and underreporting. This likely lowered the reported number of trafficking convictions and average length of sentences. To obtain a more complete understanding of its efforts, the government provided prosecution and conviction statistics for trafficking cases when it was the primary and secondary charge. The government prosecuted 248 suspected traffickers in 2022, an increase compared with at least 223 prosecutions in 2021, but less than 262 in 2020. Of the 248 prosecutions, state prosecutors prosecuted 94 suspected traffickers with trafficking as the primary charge and 154 with trafficking as the secondary charge. Courts convicted 196 traffickers in 2022, the same as in 2021, but less than 224 in 2020. Courts convicted 67 traffickers with trafficking as the primary charge and 129 traffickers with trafficking as the secondary charge in 2022. Of the 196 convictions, at least 101 were for sex trafficking, 80 were unspecified, and 15 were for labor trafficking. The government did not report any investigations, prosecutions, or convictions of government employees complicit in human trafficking crimes.

The government only provided sentencing statistics for convictions with trafficking as the primary charge. Of the 67 traffickers convicted in 2022 with trafficking as the primary charge, 63 percent (42 traffickers) received either a fully suspended sentence or education (36 traffickers), a fine (five traffickers), or less than one year of imprisonment (one trafficker). This compared with 74 percent of traffickers convicted with trafficking as the primary charge receiving lenient sentences in 2021 and 66 percent in 2020. Only 37 percent of convicted traffickers (25 traffickers) received significant prison sentences of more than one year of imprisonment; this compared with 26 percent in 2020 and 34 percent in 2020. In comparison, of the 721 convicted rapists in 2022, 84 percent (608) were sentenced to one year in prison or longer. Judges typically suspended sentences less than two years for most crimes, including human trafficking, particularly for first-time offenders. This practice weakened deterrence, potentially undercut efforts of police and prosecutors, and created potential security and safety concerns, particularly for victims who cooperated with investigations and prosecutions.

The federal criminal police (BKA) had dedicated human trafficking investigators. Most, but not all, states had dedicated anti-trafficking investigation units; at least two states had specialized prosecution units. As a federal system, jurisdiction for criminal prosecutions in Germany rested with state courts, and, consequently, procedures, staffing, and funding varied from state to state. Frequent turnover, insufficient personnel, and limited dedicated anti-trafficking resources hindered law enforcement efforts, sometimes leading to protracted court cases that were ultimately dismissed because of the statute of limitations or victims choosing not to participate in prolonged proceedings. The complex wording and scope of the trafficking and exploitation sections in the criminal code (Sections 232 to 233a) reportedly resulted in state prosecutors sometimes charging suspected traffickers with crimes considered easier to prove than coercion in labor and sex trafficking. Furthermore, a 2021 Ministry of Justice (MOJ)-funded study on the 2016 amended Sections 232 to 233(a) concluded the amendments did not significantly increase prosecutions or convictions; the provisions were confusing and relied almost exclusively on victim testimony; and the government had not introduced sufficient structural changes to effectively enforce the expanded provisions, resulting in prosecutors charging and convicting traffickers for other crimes. Law enforcement noted judges sometimes viewed victims as criminals, especially if traffickers exploited them in forced criminality. In 2022, the government reported 57 percent of sex trafficking victims made statements to law enforcement; however, civil society noted that despite the number of victims willing to initially cooperate with law enforcement, many investigations were discontinued shortly after initiation and comparatively few resulted in prosecutions. While government efforts to address labor trafficking continued to increase in 2022, they remained inadequate despite the suspected scale of the problem. Sentences for labor trafficking remained lenient. Of the 15 traffickers convicted for labor trafficking in 2022, nine received fines or fully suspended sentences and only two were sentenced to more than one year in prison; the government did not provide sentencing data of four labor trafficking convictions. The 2021 MOJ-funded study concluded to effectively address forced begging and criminality, law enforcement would need specialized training and an agency assigned with specific responsibility; it also found, in general, there was an insufficient number of trafficking-specialized professionals.

The government, in partnership with government-funded civil society organizations, provided regular anti-trafficking trainings to government officials, police, prosecutors, the Financial Monitoring Unit to Combat Illicit Employment (FKS), and specialized counseling centers, victim protection coordinators, social workers, and asylum center workers, on a variety of topics, including on victim’s rights, restitution, services for refugees, and obtaining compensation. The German Judicial Academy trained 31 judges and prosecutors on handling sex trafficking cases; however, state prosecutors noted judges required further training. The BKA created a virtual reality training course for law enforcement officers to identify sex trafficking victims on websites, including educating officers on other technology-facilitated human trafficking components. Despite some efforts to provide front-line officials with the technical skills needed to effectively combat the digitization of trafficking, civil society encouraged increased efforts and criticized that most officials continued to lack the necessary skills. The BKA maintained an information portal for federal and state police forces with information on current trends, guidelines, and investigative tools for combating trafficking. The Servicestelle maintained an online platform, providing access to information on guidelines, agreements, and counseling centers for victims. Federal- and state-level police continued extensive efforts to cooperate on international operations with EUROPOL on joint action days, with EU-funded programs, and with dozens of countries, which resulted in Germany’s participation in at least 11 operational actions in 2023, the arrest of at least 21 suspects, and the identification of 269 victims across all participating countries.

The government increased protection efforts. In 2022, the most recent year for which comprehensive statistics were available, state government authorities who were responsible for protection efforts identified 1,532 trafficking victims, a significant increase compared with 581 in 2021 and 494 in 2020 and 2019. Of the government-identified victims, traffickers exploited 476 in sex trafficking (417 in 2021) and 1,019 in labor trafficking (164 in 2021), which included nine forced begging victims (six in 2021) and 26 forced criminality victims (11 in 2021). Ninety-five percent of sex trafficking victims were women, 3 percent were male, and 2 percent identified as transgender. At least 176 sex trafficking victims were children (17 or younger), the vast majority of whom were German. Similar to the prior year, sex trafficking victims were most frequently from Germany (133), Bulgaria (72), and Romania (63). The identification of labor trafficking victims increased significantly in 2022, primarily attributed to one large-scale investigation of the beverage logistics sector where authorities identified 555 victims, primarily from Ukraine. Of the nine forced begging victims, all were men; the majority were Romanian; and their ages ranged from 22 to 65. Of the 26 forced criminality victims, 22 were men and six were women, the majority of whom were from the Slovak Republic. Police and front-line officials continued to proactively identify the majority of sex and labor trafficking victims.

In its 2019 report, GRETA noted the official figures of identified trafficking victims did not reflect the true scale of human trafficking in Germany because of the absence of a comprehensive and coherent approach to detecting and identifying victims, including among migrants and asylum-seekers; problems with data collection; and insufficient prioritization of labor trafficking. In its 2022 annual report, the government stated it identified most labor trafficking victims through inspections, which may have resulted insignificant underreporting, predominantly due to fear of reprisals from traffickers or regulatory consequences. Based on its analysis of victims assisted compared with investigations initiated in 2022, the government-funded Network against Trafficking in Human Beings (KOK) also concluded that most cases of human trafficking went unreported to law enforcement.

NGOs remained concerned the government did not have national victim identification or referral guidelines to address all forms of trafficking, and children and adults remained without systematic provision of care. At the federal level, there were procedures in place to identify and refer victims to care, but state-level entities provided most victim care. The government had a national cooperation strategy for child victims of trafficking and exploitation, which functioned as a referral mechanism; the government provided funding through 2024 to an NGO to implement the strategy with eight networks in six states. Each state had a separate system to refer victims to either state-run support or NGOs, and several states had written identification guidelines. Thirteen of 16 states had formal cooperation agreements in place between police and NGOs for various purposes, but not all included all forms of trafficking, such as labor trafficking, forced begging, and forced criminality. Most front-line officials continued to lack sensitivity and awareness of forced criminality and forced begging, which resulted in officials failing to identify and refer victims exploited in these crimes. Civil society expressed concern that a victim’s identification was often dependent on how they were identified and by whom; victims were more likely to be identified via an operation or planned outreach compared with incidental contact with a law enforcement officer lacking specialized training, which was often the case. Law enforcement and public authorities, especially in rural areas, who had not received specialized training were unlikely to identify trafficking victims or make them aware of their rights and available services; instead, they were more likely penalize victims of trafficking for crimes committed as a direct result of being trafficked.

The government provided victim services primarily through state-funded NGOs, including the KOK and the Servicestelle, and its affiliated counseling centers and advice centers, which specialized in assisting labor trafficking victims, foreign migrants, and refugees. KOK comprised 43 member organizations, including specialist counseling centers, migrant projects, and women’s shelters; KOK acted as a convening and coordinating entity for anti-trafficking NGOs. This model allowed victims to obtain support without the need to interact with law enforcement, which officials found increased the likelihood victims would seek assistance. KOK published an annual report collating national trafficking victim assistance data, and while not comprehensive – as only 19 of 43 government-funded, specialized counseling centers provided input into KOK’s report – it is the most comprehensive source available. In 2022, the specialized counseling centers reported providing assistance to at least 875 victims of trafficking and exploitation (an increase compared with 725 victims in 2021), with demographic information available on 733 victims. Of these 733 victims, 236 were newly assisted in 2022, while the remaining victims began receiving care in prior years. Counseling centers also reported the provision of: psycho-social support (636), information on victim rights (619), legal advice (441), referral and accompaniment to medical appointments (426), crisis intervention (413), assistance with documentation (389), assistance accessing a means of subsistence (379), support during asylum proceedings (374), literacy and language courses (330),support during residence permit proceedings (317), support during criminal proceedings (136), assistance with requesting compensation (126), referral to training and education (118), employment (66), and psycho-social support during court cases (51). In 2022, most victims assisted by the counseling centers were women (88 percent), 9 percent were men, and 13 percent were younger than 21 at the time of exploitation. Many victims assisted by counseling centers were from Nigeria (35 percent) or Guinea (10 percent); only 7 percent of victims assisted were from Germany, though the number of German victims identified by the government was much higher.

In 2023, the federal government allocated €546,578 ($603,954) to KOK’s management operations, the same amount as in 2022. The federal government continued to provide €200,000 ($220,995), the same as 2022, to an NGO to implement the national cooperation strategy for child victims of trafficking and exploitation. In 2023, the federal government also provided €466,666 ($515,653) in funding to an NGO to address labor trafficking, an increase compared with €295,900 ($326,961) in 2022. Though comprehensive data was not reported, state governments also supported trafficking victims and in 2023, they reported allocating at least €5.9 million ($6.5 million) to human trafficking NGOs, an increase compared with €2.61 million ($2.88 million) in 2022, but similar to €5.9 million ($6.5 million) in 2021. Civil society continued to report staffing and funding were insufficient for operational needs, requiring a dependence on private donations. Government-funded NGO counseling centers served labor and sex trafficking victims, although many centers only had a mandate to assist women sex trafficking victims. Trafficking-specific NGO service providers operated in 45 cities and in all 16 states, providing shelter, medical and psychological care, legal assistance, vocational support, assistance acquiring residence permits, counseling and preparation for police or judicial interrogations and court appearances, repatriation, and resettlement support. Counseling centers were also responsible for public relations and cooperation with law enforcement agencies or social service providers. Civil society noted many rural areas continued to lack trafficking-specific resources. While foreign victims were legally entitled to the same benefits as German victims, civil society stated that, in practice, these benefits were often not accessible to foreign victims. Victims were entitled to up to 18 sessions of emergency aid in outpatient trauma clinics. However, a civil society organization reported many trafficking victims were not covered by the government’s health care system, and those who were covered typically received treatment by health care workers not trained to identify trafficking victims.

In 2023, one regional government reported opening a new short-term shelter for women trafficking victims. However, civil society continued to note shelter availability for all trafficking victims was severely deficient. There was limited long-term or comprehensive support, including shelter, in centers for children, transgender women, and adult male trafficking victims; civil society noted while there was more availability for women victims, accommodation for men was ad hoc, and children lacked specialized shelter catered to the needs of trafficking victims. Overall availability of services and shelters was inconsistent or inadequate depending on the state. Of the data available from KOK for 472 cases in 2022, the government did not provide 128 individuals with accommodation due to lack of available spaces or because victims had found alternatives. Government authorities and NGOs noted the influx of refugees, with significant numbers from Ukraine, strained resources, including victim accommodations.

The Federal Agency for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) continued to utilize its SOPs and trafficking indicator lists to identify potential victims in the asylum protection system and made referrals to government-funded NGO counseling centers, although NGOs continued to suggest needed improvements in victim identification. Each BAMF branch office included at least one representative to assist in identifying and supporting potential trafficking victims. While the government reported screening migrants and asylum-seekers for trafficking indicators, and identified victims were entitled to social benefits and deportation relief, unidentified victims remained vulnerable and could be deported without first receiving protection services. NGOs reported some potential labor trafficking victims may have inappropriately been deported prior to being screened or given the opportunity to claim compensation for lost wages. Counseling centers reported BAMF officers with specialized anti-trafficking training were not always involved or included in deportation hearings. Civil society noted non-specialized immigration and police officers rarely identified trafficking victims among the asylum-seeking and migrant populations, even when victims directly referenced trafficking experiences, especially if NGOs or counseling centers were not involved. Counseling centers could identify and refer trafficking victims to services; however, BAMF officers sometimes disagreed with their identifications and deported unidentified victims.

Prosecutors, together with other authorities, offered undocumented victims a reflection period of three months to decide if they would testify in court. However, NGOs and GRETA noted the reflection period was not uniformly or adequately applied, and victims were not systematically informed of their rights; they urged investigators to increase efforts to inform victims of their rights. In 2022, KOK reported that of the 251 cases where information was available, while 151 victims applied for a reflection period, only 135 were approved. NGOs noted applying for a reflection period was increasingly difficult, often required a victim statement to law enforcement, and was complicated by inconsistent rules that varied by state. NGOs also noted immigration authorities often requested confirmation of victim status from police, which was challenging if the victim chose not to interact with law enforcement. Victims who agreed to testify were eligible for temporary residence permits, which allowed them to remain and work in Germany through the duration of the trial; however, the government did not report how many victims received permits. Specialized counseling centers provided a significant amount of support assisting foreign victims with their residency status, supporting them through criminal proceedings (136 cases in 2022) and accompanying them to immigration proceedings; clarifying residency status was often difficult, though a pre-requisite for receiving many of the benefits available to trafficking victims, like accommodation and employment. The law provided legal alternatives to removal to countries in which victims would face retribution or hardship. NGOs continued to highlight the need for a humanitarian stay of deportation independent from a victim’s cooperation in criminal proceedings. After completion of a trial, the law granted officials the authority to issue residence permits to victims in cases of humanitarian hardship, for public interest, or for those who faced injury or threats to life or freedom in their countries of origin; however, GRETA noted there were significant discrepancies from state to state in the application of the law.

The law entitled victims to an interpreter and a third-party representative from a counseling center to accompany them to all interviews. Subject to certain requirements, victims could join criminal trials as joint plaintiffs and were entitled to free legal counsel, a psychological assistant, and the pursuit of civil remedies as part of the criminal proceeding. The government had a guide for child-friendly criminal proceedings and interviewing. The law allowed victims to submit video testimony; however, NGOs reported not all states had the required equipment for video testimony, and use of the equipment was subject to the judge’s discretion. Ultimately, courts only utilized victim testimony in about 10 percent of cases because judges did not often consider video testimony equivalent to in-person testimony, unless the victim was a child. State prosecutors noted additional trafficking training for judges could encourage increased use of video testimony. The government took measures to lessen the burden on victims and prevent re-traumatization by reducing the number of times they had to testify in trials and sometimes not requiring them to testify at all. However, civil society noted courts did not implement these protections uniformly, and sometimes judges did not dismiss suspects from the courtroom before victim testimony. NGOs also reported instances of law enforcement and judges lacking a victim-centered and trauma-informed approach, including by sometimes interrogating victims as criminals or discriminating against persons for becoming trafficking victims.

The government continued to lack comprehensive statistics on compensation and restitution awarded to victims, did not require prosecutors to systematically request restitution during criminal trials, and did not have a dedicated victim compensation fund. The government did not report providing compensation to any victims for the second consecutive year. In 2019, the government amended the Victims of Crime Act – effective January 2024 – to address the requirement of physical violence in order to receive compensation from the government and expand protections to include psychological violence. The government did not report awarding restitution to any victims in 2023. The government did not report whether any victims filed civil suits or that it awarded damages to any victims in 2023. Traffickers would often claim inability to pay restitution owed to victims, leaving victims with little recourse.

Section 154(c) of the German Code of Criminal Procedure exempted victims from prosecution for minor criminal offences committed as a direct result of being trafficked; however, the 2021 MOJ-funded study concluded prosecutors rarely used section 154(c) because they preferred to use more familiar sections of the criminal code, which lacked the trafficking-specific language of 154(c). The report recommended the government mandate use of Section 154(c) when interacting with trafficking victims. NGOs continued to assert law enforcement lacked awareness of section 154(c) and trafficking victims remained at risk of penalization for immigration and other administrative violations committed as a direct result of being trafficked. NGOs reported undocumented victims often feared obtaining medical care or submitting a claim for lost wages because Section 87 of the German Residency Act required public entities to report undocumented persons. The government offered victim-witness assistance as needed, and police accompanied witnesses to trials.

The government maintained efforts to prevent trafficking. The Federal Ministry for Families, Seniors, Women, and Youth coordinated human trafficking efforts at the international level and national efforts on sex trafficking, while the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs coordinated efforts on labor trafficking. The government had three federal-state interagency working groups that coordinated with each other and addressed all forms of trafficking. Two of the three government working groups met at least three times in 2023 to discuss drafting the anti-trafficking NAP, the digitalization of human trafficking, and data collection. The working group on child sexual exploitation did not meet for the second consecutive year. An international organization recommended appointing a national coordinating body, responsible for sex and labor trafficking, to increase harmonization of the institutional framework and coordination structures at the federal and state levels. The government continued cooperation under a framework agreement between the FKS, specialized counseling centers, and the Servicestelle, which aimed to intensify cooperation and improve distribution of responsibilities related to labor trafficking. The Human Trafficking Reporting Unit continued to function as the independent national rapporteur. The government remained without an anti-trafficking NAP.

The government continued to publish its annual report on human trafficking. The government did not report conducting any national anti-trafficking awareness campaigns for the second consecutive year. Government-funded NGOs continued awareness raising efforts for refugees from Ukraine and on the “lover boy” recruitment method. The federal government did not have a trafficking-specific hotline but continued to fund a 24/7 hotline in 18 languages for women affected by violence; in 2022, the hotline received calls from 120 potential trafficking victims (compared with 81 in 2021). In addition, the government had several other national and regional hotlines for sexual abuse of children and male victims of violence, including trafficking, in addition to a government-funded, NGO-operated national helpline for migrant workers; however, statistics on trafficking victims were unavailable for these hotlines.

Inadequate oversight, fraudulent labor recruitment, and the continued vulnerability of migrant and seasonal workers remained concerns. However, the government made efforts to prevent labor exploitation and trafficking by continuing to fund an advisory and outreach service on worker’s rights, targeting migrant and seasonable workers, and by adopting an ordinance in August 2023 to allow for more severe sanctions against recruitment and employment agencies that violated the law. The law prohibited recruitment fees for temporary workers, but it allowed recruitment agencies to charge fees to non-temporary foreign migrants between €170 ($190) and €2,000 ($2,210). Foreign workers needed prior government permission, via a new residence permit, before changing employers, which may have increased their vulnerability to trafficking. Private labor recruiters did not require a license to operate. The government had a law prohibiting short-term contracts for migrant workers in the meat industry. Civil society continued to express concern regarding the recruitment of foreign nurses, asserting their working conditions, especially in private homes, were exploitative and, in some cases, may have amounted to labor trafficking. The government previously established a voluntary certificate that health care recruiting companies could obtain if they complied with all labor and employment laws; of the approximately 150 eligible private recruitment agencies in Germany, all major private agencies were participating in the certificate process. The government previously expanded the mandate of the FKS to include trafficking, thereby increasing staff who could potentially identify forced labor victims. However, the FKS lacked the authority to perform labor inspections inside private households without the homeowners’ consent, thereby limiting their identification of domestic servitude. Authorities conducted annual in-person interviews of domestic workers employed by embassies in Germany, without employers present, to inform workers of their rights. Civil society continued to urge the government to prioritize its efforts to raise awareness among domestic workers of diplomats and increase its efforts to protect this vulnerable population.

The Human Rights Due Diligence in Supply Chains Act required all companies with more than 1,000 employees to exercise due diligence to ensure their supply chains did not use forced labor, including through risk analysis, risk management, and a complaints mechanism; the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control led these efforts and oversaw enforcement measures that included inspections, document retrieval, and fines for noncompliance. The government prohibited convicted traffickers from being selected for public contracts. The government provided funding to several anti-trafficking programs abroad, including in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, the Western Balkans, and several countries in the Horn of Africa. The government did not make efforts to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts. The government demonstrated efforts to reduce the demand for participation in extraterritorial sexual exploitation and abuse by German nationals by continuing an awareness campaign, conducting 12 training sessions for tourism professionals and students, and amending the Passport Act in 2023 to prohibit sex offenders from traveling abroad on a case-by-case basis.

As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Germany. Despite the relaxation of pandemic-related restrictions, sex traffickers increasingly use online platforms to recruit, exploit victims, and book apartment rentals to make their illicit operations difficult to track. Apartment rentals have become the predominant venue for sex trafficking to occur, compared with the more traditional brothel, bar, or street locations. Transgender women from Thailand and women from the People’s Republic of China and Vietnam are particularly vulnerable to sex trafficking; traffickers often mislead these persons regarding their working conditions and wages prior to their arrival. Romani families sometimes force their children, boys and girls, into sex trafficking on the streets. Sex traffickers use fraudulent recruitment, force, and debt bondage to exploit Venezuelan women and LGBTQI+ persons fleeing collapsing social and economic conditions. Authorities continue to report the prevalence of young male traffickers, known as “lover boys,” coercing girls and women into sex trafficking, often through a faux romantic relationship; in 2022, traffickers coerced approximately 19 percent of identified sex trafficking victims using this method. In 2022, traffickers recruited 18 percent of identified sex trafficking victims through the internet and 17 percent through model and talent agencies. In 2022, the government reported approximately 33 percent of sex traffickers were acquainted with victims prior to exploiting them in sex trafficking; officials suspect this figure will continue to decrease as online recruitment increases.

Traffickers continue to target migrants and refugees upon arrival. In 2022, refugees from Ukraine, predominantly women and children fleeing Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, are vulnerable to trafficking. Traffickers, namely Nigerian women, continue to fraudulently recruit and later coerce Nigerian women and girls to stay in exploitative situations by forcing them to swear to a “voodoo oath,” while Nigerian “fraternities” increasingly recruit victims through force. Nigerian and European mafias continue to cooperate to facilitate human trafficking and exploit victims from Africa. Several foreign governments continue to report German citizens engage in extraterritorial sexual exploitation and abuse abroad. Organized Vietnamese criminal groups exploit Vietnamese victims in labor trafficking. Traffickers exploit victims in forced labor primarily in the meat industry, logistics sector, construction sector, food service and beverage industry, nursing/care sector, in seasonal industries like agriculture, as well as in hotels and private homes, with reported increases in the number of child victims. Traffickers subject Roma and foreign unaccompanied children to sex trafficking, forced begging, and forced criminality.