Sliding scales in labour exploitation - the grey area between social dumping and human trafficking

Over the past decade, we have seen increased attention to labour exploitation that may be serious, but without being (or being proven to be) human trafficking as defined in the Criminal Code. This has often been referred to as a "grey area", where there has been a lack of both sanctions against those who exploit and assistance for those who are exploited.

The Government’s Action Plan against Social Dumping and Labour Crime states that the Government will review measures that can strengthen assistance to victims of serious exploitation that does not meet the threshold to be categorized as human trafficking.

Fafo’s previous research has shown that a lack of measures in the ‘grey area’ has also made it more difficult to follow up on possible human trafficking cases in the workplace. It is usually unclear how serious the cases are when various actors first become aware of them.

Fear of initiating processes that could worsen the situation for those who are potentially exploited can raise the threshold for involving the police.

In the period 2003 to 2024, there have been only three convictions for human trafficking for forced labor and one conviction where the case concerned a combination of sexual exploitation and forced labor.

In this project, Fafo will investigate four main questions:

1. map the scope and identify characteristics of people who are in the gray area between social dumping and human trafficking
2. map the characteristics of contractors and employers who exploit their employees
3. map assistance, including preventive measures and identify which assistance is needed
4. map sanctions and barriers to using existing sanctions against exploitation in the workplace.