Italy registered 2,040 trafficking cases in 2020 - report

(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 27 - The Italian protection system registered 2,040 people who were the victims of trafficking in 2020, according to a new report by Save the Children.
    The Little Invisible Slaves report said that 5% of those cases, 105, involved a child, while about 80% of all cases involved women and girls.
    The report said the rise in trafficked women with children returned to Italy from other EU countries under the Dublin Regulation, which gives powers to transfer refugees and migrants back to the EU nation in which they arrived, was "particularly worrying".
    Save the Children said some 190 women with 226 children are currently supported in the Italian protection system.
    "These are often children of single girls who have been deceived, sold, kidnapped, and who have suffered torture and rape on their way to Europe," said Raffaela Milano, Save the Children's Europe Programme Director in Italy "The children are often prisoners as well, along with their mothers. They are trapped in a cycle of violence, blackmail and abuse that must be broken at all costs.
    "It is vital to strengthen and support services to help these women escape and to guarantee health, education, protection and inclusion for their children".
    The report said the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed child traffickers indoors and online in Europe, making it harder to track down the criminal gangs forcing their victims into prostitution, to smuggle drugs or into forced labour. (ANSA).