The number of signals of sexual exploitation in Drenthe increased by about 80 percent last year. In 2022, the Care and Safety House Drenthe (ZVHD) registered a signal of sexual exploitation 41 times, compared to 23 times a year earlier.
A clear cause for the increase cannot be given, but more knowledge about the subject may lead to more reports. “Many more people have been trained, such as people from the municipality who have customer contact, police officers and people at COA,” says ZVHD manager Rianne Folkerts. But higher figures do not automatically mean that exploitation is more common, it may be that it has not been reported in recent years. Folkerts: “You don’t know what you don’t know.”
The number of other signs of exploitation in Drenthe also increased compared to a year earlier. However, sexual exploitation is by far the most common form. Most signals of sexual exploitation come from the municipalities of Emmen (10) and Hoogeveen (6), according to ZVHD’s annual report on human trafficking.