Antwerp (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Police found human trafficking signs at a northern Antwerp shisha bar, involving underage girls and illegal activities.
Mayor Bart De Wever has announced that Police have found indications of human trafficking at a shisha bar in northern Antwerp. The premises will be shut for at least two months pending inquiry.
As reported by Belga News Agency, besides human trafficking for sexual exploitation, authorities also doubt breaches of public health and safety laws. During an assessment, police discovered five scantily wrapped women, including three children, on the platform, located on Sint-Bartholomeusstraat in Merksem. The females were suspected of operating as escorts, with some holding small bags possessing cash.
The police also found documents of daily earnings, with the titles of two underage girls and connected amounts itemised. One of these children had been documented as missing in the Netherlands and has since been repositioned to Dutch authorities. The shisha bar, which was working without a proper permit, was also discovered to have an illicit bouncer on duty during the assessment. Further, several bottles of nitrous oxide and balloons were found in the basement.
Rising Human Trafficking and Exploitation in Belgium
As reported by the UN, “Since 2019, Belgium documents approximately 100 underage sufferers of teenage pimping annually. By July 2024, 73 victims of teenage pimps and minors pushed into criminal actions had been registered.” Kids are specifically vulnerable to human trafficking for several causes, including lack of access to education, poverty and humanitarian concerns. Despite Belgium’s lawful framework, child trafficking continues. A hotline launched in 2019 noted a growing number of cases.
Additionally, Human trafficking in Antwerp has appeared as a pressing problem, especially highlighted by recent inquiries uncovering noteworthy exploitation of workers. In July 2022, an investigation indicated that 55 potential sufferers of human trafficking were operating on a construction site for Borealis, a chemical business near the port of Antwerp. In June 2023, authorities found 174 illegal employees at Antwerp port, marking one of the biggest cases of modern slavery in Belgium.
Many of these employees, mostly from the Philippines and Bangladesh, were reportedly paid just €650 per month for six-day workweeks under extreme circumstances. Traffickers usually manipulate migration practices, bringing professional labourers from Asia into Belgium via Eastern Europe. This approach has been noted as a standard trend across several European nations, where workers are attracted by fraudulent promises of legitimate work but end up in exploitative conditions.
