On 5 April 2011, the European Union adopted, for the first time, EU legislation specifically aimed at preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and strengthening the protection of trafficked persons. The EU Anti-Trafficking Directive (2011/36/EU) set binding rules on criminal offences and sanctions, and introduced key obligations on prevention, victim protection, and access to justice.
Fifteen years later, as EU Member States are preparing to transpose the Revised EU Anti-Trafficking Directive (deadline: 15 July 2026), it remains clear that the EU is still far from achieving full and consistent implementation of the original Directive. Despite the legal commitments made in 2011, major gaps persist, especially in relation to non-punishment, and access to justice and effective compensation.
Access to Compensation
Human trafficking is one of the gravest human rights violations. Ensuring trafficked persons are identified, protected during proceedings, and supported to access justice, including compensation, must be a priority.
Yet while the right to compensation is recognised in international and European frameworks, receiving compensation in practice remains extremely rare. Through the Justice at Last project consortium coordinated by La Strada International, we concluded that only two thirds of claims resulted in an award. Worryingly, only a quarter of them received the awarded compensation amount.
This gap reflects systemic barriers, including:
- limited awareness among law enforcement and judicial actors of victims’ rights;
- lack of access to legal aid and adequate information for victims;
- the absence of safe reporting and complaint mechanisms, particularly for undocumented workers, domestic workers, and sex workers;
- the postponement of trials and long duration of criminal and civil proceedings hampers victims’ access to compensation and back wages;
- trafficking for labour exploitation is still too often treated as a mere labour law issue rather than a serious crime, meaning delayed or denied access to assistance, weak investigations, and limited opportunities to claim compensation;
- inconsistent identification practices and unequal access to protection services across forms of exploitation.
Non-Punishment Principle
Article 8 of the Directive reinforced the non-punishment principle, requiring States to allow victims of human trafficking to not be prosecuted or penalised for offences they were compelled to commit as a direct consequence of their exploitation. The revised provision now explicitly extends this principle to all unlawful activities, including civil and administrative offences. The application of the non-punishment procedure should be unconditional and should not depend on a victim’s ability or willingness to cooperate with authorities.
Effective transposition of Article 8 requires Member States to:
- establish clear national legal provisions and prosecutorial guidelines,
- train law enforcement, prosecutors and other authorities, and
- raise awareness among practitioners on when and how the non-punishment principle should be applied.
𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗿𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲, 𝘃𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗺𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗱𝗼𝘂𝗯𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗱. Instead of being identified and protected, they may be prosecuted, detained, fined, or otherwise penalised for acts or irregularities committed while being exploited. This leads to re-victimisation and re-traumatisation and further barriers to justice, support, recovery, and reintegration.
Our research on the non-punishment provision, in which we analyse cases where it should have been applied and how it was used in practice, showed that in most cases, the provision was either not applied at all or only partially applied, leaving victims of human trafficking punished for crimes or irregularities directly linked to their exploitation. Access the research here.
Address Implementation Gaps
Implementation gaps where even recognised by the European Commission and were reason for evaluation processes, that aimed to strengthen implementation. Yet while attention now shifts to the transposition of the revised Directive, the EU must not lose sight of the unfinished work of fully implementing the existing obligations.
La Strada International calls for:
- effective and consistent implementation of the EU Anti-Trafficking Directive across all Member States;
- full and victim-centred application of the non-punishment principle;
- real access to justice and compensation, supported by legal aid, safe reporting, and unconditional access to assistance, regardless of residence status.
In parallel, La Strada International has launched the campaign “Victim Protection Starts with EU Law Transposition”, highlighting key revised provisions each month and urging Member States to deliver meaningful protections in law and in practice.