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Criminal Victims/Witnesses of Crimes: The Criminal Offences of Smuggling and Trafficking of Human Beings in Germany, Discretionary Residence Rights, and Other Ways of Protecting Victims

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2019

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In the crusade against organized crime, it has become more and more accepted that the often trans-border crime cannot sufficiently be tackled by enhanced enforcement and cooperation between states alone. An alternative tool may be what can be termed the instrumentalization of the victims to enable the prosecution of organized criminals. This brings to the fore the dilemma that the victims are often themselves offenders, as a rule, breaching provisions of immigration law. Therefore, it is typically not in their interest to bring offences of trafficking and smuggling, of which they are the victims, to the attention of the authorities. Initiatives at the international and EU/EC level, which grant limited residence rights to those victims who collaborate in the prosecution of the offenders, attempt to deal with this conflict of interest. This implies at least a partial recognition of the status of the victim.

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Articles
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Copyright © 2005 by German Law Journal GbR 

References

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53 § 95 (2) No. 2 AufenthG.Google Scholar

54 See § 84 Asylum Procedure Act (Asylverfahrensgesetz, AsylVfG).Google Scholar

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62 Aurnhammer, supra note 42, at 41.Google Scholar

63 § 95 (3) AufenthG.Google Scholar

64 Bavarian Court of Justice (Bayerisches Oberstes Landesgericht (BayObLG)), 16 NStZ 287 (1996).Google Scholar

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121 Under § 95 (2) AufenthG.Google Scholar

122 §§ § 96, 97 AufenthG.Google Scholar

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130 § 96, 97 AufenthG.Google Scholar

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138 Supplementary to § 236 StGB above. A number of prohibitions result in both administrative and criminal sanctions. For example, placement services can only be rendered by authorized state institutions (children's welfare authorities (Jugendamt, Landesjugendamt) via adoption offices or churches and welfare organizations), with the exception of relatives or where there is an individual case with no economic motive; administrative fines are also given for arranging “baby lifts” for later adoption outside the scope of the German law, while there is a criminal sanction for finding surrogate mothers. Acts on the demand side are not criminalized. Schur, supra note 126, at 174; Dreixler, supra note 29, at 50, 66, and 278.Google Scholar

139 Prohibits the gainful trade in organs. Dreixler, supra note 29, at 95.Google Scholar

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142 Supra note 1.Google Scholar

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144 This has widely been criticized, Schroeder, supra note 19; Hofmann, supra note 26, at 381.Google Scholar

145 “Menschenhandel”.Google Scholar

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150 LKA NRW, Lagebild Menschenhandel Nordrhein-Westfalen 3 and 14 (2002).Google Scholar

151 § 232 (1) StGB, previously § 180b (1) .Google Scholar

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156 Tröndle & Fischer, supra note 135, at § 180b, para. 5.Google Scholar

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159 BGH, 9 NStZ-RR 233 (2004).Google Scholar

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161 BGH, 9 NStZ-RR 233 (2004).Google Scholar

162 The new § 232 StGB lowers the threshold with regard to the intensity of the influence of the trafficker (from “bestimmen” in § 180b (old) to “dazu bringen”, see BT Drs. 15/3045, p. 8.Google Scholar

163 BGH, judgment of 27 May 2004, 3 StR 500/02; judgment of 20 June 2002, 3StR 135/01, p. 8 f.Google Scholar

164 BGH, 9 NStZ-RR 233 (2004); 45 BGHSt 158, 161 ff.Google Scholar

165 § 232 (1) now puts these on an equal par with prostitution, see BT Drs. 15/3045, p. 8.Google Scholar

166 BGH, 52 NJW 1044 (1999).Google Scholar

167 Tröndle & Fischer, supra note 135, at § 180b, para. 6.Google Scholar

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169 Tröndle & Fischer, supra note 135, at § 180b, para. 7.Google Scholar

170 BGH, 20 NStZ 86 (2000).Google Scholar

171 33 BGHSt 353; BGH, 52 JZ 153, 155 (1997) (= 42 BGHSt 179 ff.); BGH, 3 StR 135/01, 20 June 2001; BT-Drs. 12/2589, p. 8; Wilfried Bottke, Zur Einordnung einer fremdbestimmten Intensivierung einer Prostitutionsausübung unter die Tatbestände des StGB, Juristische Rundschau 250 (1997); Friedrich Dencker, Prostituierte als Opfer von Menschenhandel, 9 NStZ 249 (1989); see also Dreixler, supra note 29, at 215.Google Scholar

172 Dencker, supra note 171.Google Scholar

173 See BT Drs. 15/3045, p. 8Google Scholar

174 BT Drs. 15/4048, p. 12.Google Scholar

175 This is especially problematic where statement stands against statement without any further evidence. It is exacerbated when there are inconsistencies in the witness statements, Cf. BGH, judgment of 30 May 2000, 4 StR 24/00; Birgit Thoma, Rechtliche Problemstellungen, in Barbara Koelges et al., Probleme der Strafverfolgung und des Zeuginnenschutzes in Menschenhandelsprozessen 18, 24 (2002).Google Scholar

176 BGH, 9 NStZ-RR 233 (2004); judgment of 20 June 2002, 3 StR 135/01. According to the statistics of trafficking victims in the Land of Northrhine-Westphalia in the year 2002, 22 women out of 203 victims in total already practiced prostitution in their home countries, see LKA NRW, Lagebild Menschenhandel Nordrhein-Westfalen,13, 18 (2002).Google Scholar

177 BGH, 9 NStZ-RR 233 (2004).Google Scholar

178 §§ 181a, 180a StGB.Google Scholar

179 Thoma, supra note 175; see Koelges & Welter-Kaschub, Auswertung der Prozessunterlagen, in Koelges. Supra note 175, at 66, 93 for examples of convictions for these “subsidiary” offences.Google Scholar

180 As in BGH, judgment of 20 June 2002, 3StR 135/01.Google Scholar

181 BT Drs. 15/3045, p. 8.Google Scholar

182 Discussion in BGH, judgment of 27 May 2004, 3 StR 500/03, but left open (tendency to answer in the negative as these acts were not considered to be sufficiently separate forms of prostitution to amount to more intensive forms, except in the case of sexually transmitted diseases).Google Scholar

183 BT Drs. 15/4048, p. 12.Google Scholar

184 A direct exploitative intent was not required, Tröndle & Fischer, supra note 135, at § 180b, para. 8.Google Scholar

185 This means an increase in the sanction (previously up to five years of fine) which was at least influenced by the requirements of the EU Framework Decision to provide – under certain circumstances – for a maxium sanction of at least eight years imprisonment, see BT Drs. 15/4048, p. 12. As a consequence, there was no need anymore to separately codify aggravating circumstances which were previously contained in § 180b (2) StGB (old).Google Scholar

186 Six months imprisonment minimum up to five years, § 181a StGB.Google Scholar

187 § 234 StGB, crime, minimum of one year imprisonment (maximum ten years).Google Scholar

188 §§ 239a, 239b StGB.Google Scholar

189 §§ 235, 236 StGB, respectively. Note that trafficking of children into sexual exploitation is a crime subject to more severe sanctions under § 232 (3) no. 1 StGB.Google Scholar

190 § 181 StGB.Google Scholar

191 Results from the EU Framework Decision, see BT Drs. 15/3045, p. 9.Google Scholar

192 § 232 (3) StGB. See also Dreixler, supra note 29, at 218.Google Scholar

193 § 232 (4) StGB, § 181 (1) no. 1 & 2 (old).Google Scholar

194 Data according to Federal Criminal Office (Bundeskriminalamt (BKA), Lagebild Menschenhandel 2001 and 2002, respectively, available at http://www.bka.de/lageberichte/mh/2002/mh2002.pdf.Google Scholar

195 A a change to a location where the victim is at the mercy of the perpetrator, BGH, 12 NStZ 43 (1992).Google Scholar

196 §§ 232 (2), 23 (1) StGB.Google Scholar

197 See § 15 StGB. Hofmann, supra note 26, at 380.Google Scholar

198 §§ 180a, 181a StGB. Hofmann, supra note 26, at 380.Google Scholar

199 § 181c StGB.Google Scholar

200 Punishability of attempted offence in § 233a (3) StGB.Google Scholar

201 Only under the limited conditions of § 30 StGB.Google Scholar

202 § 233 (2) StGB: victim a child, serious physical abuse/danger of death, violence/threat or professional or gang action.Google Scholar

203 In the sense of an unsanctioned act of self-endangerment, as Geisler, supra note 90, at 174 has shown convincingly; see Dreixler, supra note 29, at 257, criticizing an underlying over-individualist conception of injustice. See also the unanimous agreement with the argument of van Essen, MdB, in the parliamentary debate on the amendment of the trafficking provisions, Deutscher Bundestag, Plenarprotokoll 15/109 of 7 May 2004, p. 9949.Google Scholar

204 Geisler, supra note 90, at 175; Dreixler, supra note 29, at 264.Google Scholar

205 § 95 (5) AufenthG.Google Scholar

206 Supra, note 69.Google Scholar

207 § 154b (3) StPO.Google Scholar

208 Hailbronner, supra note 58, at A 1, § 92 AuslG, para. 21.Google Scholar

209 Aurnhammer, supra note 42, at 57.Google Scholar

210 VG Hamburg, 8 VG 3964/99, judgment of 11 January 2001, InfAuslR 218 (2001): breach of § 92 (1) No. 1 and 6 AuslG {now § 95 (1) no. 1, 3 AufenthG} justifies expulsion unless lack of blameworthiness is positively confirmed. When a criminal procedure is not initiated (and hence no finding of lack of blame occurs), there are heightened requirements of proportionality if the expulsion occurs for reasons of public interest (preventative deterrence).Google Scholar

211 Strafbefehl, § 407 StPO.Google Scholar

212 § 47 (1) StGB provides that short prison sentences of less than six months are the exception and need to be justified by special circumstances. The underlying rationale is that the harmful effect of being exposed to a prison environment outweighs any corrective effect of short sentences.Google Scholar

213 Aurnhammer, supra note 42, at 58.Google Scholar

214 Eric Minthe, Illegale Migration und Schleusungskriminalität, in Illegale Migration und Schleusungskriminalität 17, 23 (Minthe ed., 2002); Kerstin Nowotny, Schleusungskriminalität aus staatsanwaltlicher Sicht, in id., at 93, 102.Google Scholar

215 §154c StPO.Google Scholar

216 § 154 c (2) StPOGoogle Scholar

217 Dreixler, supra note 29, at 201.Google Scholar

218 Id., at 200.Google Scholar

219 § 31 AufenthG.Google Scholar

220 BGBl. 2000 I, p. 742.Google Scholar

221 § 31 (2), 2nd sentence AufenthG.Google Scholar

222 Joachim Renzikowski, Frauenhandel – Freiheit für die Täter, Abschiebung für die Opfer?, 32 ZRP 53, 54 (1999).Google Scholar

223 Hofmann, supra note 26, at 350, 383, and 398 stresses the law-enforcement deficit; Schroeder, supra note 19, at 233: “symbolic criminal law”.Google Scholar

224 Dreixler, supra note 29, at 231; Hofmann, supra note 26, at 399.Google Scholar

225 No. 42.3.2 of the Guidelines (Allgemeine Verwaltungsvorschriften zum Ausländerrecht), Bundesanzeiger, Beilage Nr. 188a of 6 October 2000.Google Scholar

226 BKA, Lagebild Menschenhandel 2001, p. 21.Google Scholar

227 “Duldung” under § 60a (2) AufenthG.Google Scholar

228 Only a waiver of expulsion.Google Scholar

229 § 11 (2) AufenthG.Google Scholar

230 Masuch, Thorsten, in Huber, B 100 § 55, para. 75; Renner, supra note 51, at § 43, para. 719; § 20, para. 80; Renzikowski, supra note 222, at 55, FN 31 lists the Guidelines issued by the Länder.Google Scholar

231 Under§ 60a (2) AufenthG. The discretion under this norm is said to be reduced to zero, Renzikowski, supra note 222, at 55, 58 (1999); Hofmann, supra note 26, at 401; Thoma, supra note 175, at 26.Google Scholar

232 § 258 StGB.Google Scholar

233 Renzikowski, supra note 222, at 58.Google Scholar

234 Id. Incidentally, it would make an interesting empirical study to find out how far the prosecution makes use of these special responsibilities.Google Scholar

235 § 60a (3) AufenthG.Google Scholar

236 § 55 AuslG (old) – § 60a (2) AufenthG. Bundeskriminalamt, Lagebild Menschenhandel 16 (2002).Google Scholar

237 See also Bundesamt für Arbeit, Erlass of 29 May 2001, Az. IIa7-51/45.Google Scholar

238 Bundeskriminalamt, BKA, a federal police force.Google Scholar

239 See also LKA NRW, Lagebild Menschenhandel Nordrhein-Westfalen 27 (2002).Google Scholar

240 BKA, Lagebild Menschenhandel 21 (2001) The example is quoted of a woman who returned to Germany to give evidence who was seriously threatened and attacked.Google Scholar

241 It may be added that she was prepared to act as witness in new criminal proceedings in spite of the likelihood of being expelled again afterwards, LKA NRW, Lagebild Menschenhandel Nordrhein-Westfalen 24, 29 (2002).Google Scholar

242 No. 53.6.1 of the Guidelines (Allgemeine Verwaltungsvorschriften zum Ausländerrecht), Bundesanzeiger, Beilage Nr. 188a of 6 October 2000.Google Scholar

243 An interdepartmental working group which united representatives of several government departments, the Federal Criminal Office, the respective Länder departments and counselling organizations. It was founded in 1997 and convenes several times a year. See also Jörg Alt & Ralf Fodor, Rechtlos? Menschen ohne Papiere 101 (2001); see also Koelges, supra note 175, at 36.Google Scholar

244 Cf. Answer to a Parliamentary Question “Menschenhandel in Deutschland”, BT-Drs. 15/2065, p. 4.Google Scholar

245 See § 1 Asylum Applicants’ Benefits Act (Asylbewerberleistungsgesetz), BGBl. 1997 I, p. 2022, providing that asylum applicants, foreigners under a tolerance permit, foreigners whose deportation has to be stayed for humanitarian reasons, spouses and minor children have a right to benefits, provided they to not have a right to stay longer than six months.Google Scholar

246 BKA, Lagebild Menschenhandel 19, 22 (2001); 20 (2002); Hofmann, supra note 26, at 402; see already in this respect Dagmar Heine-Wiedemann, Konstruktion und Management von Menschenhandels-Fällen, 75 MschrKrim 121, 129 (1992).Google Scholar

247 See Statute of 11 December 2001, BGBl. I 2001, p. 3510; Thoma, supra note 175, at 29.Google Scholar

248 In the Land of Northrhine-Westphalia, eight women were placed in witness protection programmes in 2002, LKA NRW, Lagebild Menschenhandel Nordrhein-Westfalen 25 (2002).Google Scholar

249 § 30 AuslG (old) – §§ 23a, 24 (4), 25, 60 AufenthG.Google Scholar

250 The duty to leave the country, in principle, persists.Google Scholar

251 Renzikowski, supra note 222, at 54; Heine-Wiedemann, supra note 246.Google Scholar

252 Schur, supra note 126, at 171.Google Scholar

253 §§ 24 (4), 23a, 25, 60 AufenthG.Google Scholar

254 § 60 (5) AufenthG.Google Scholar

255 See also Dreixler, supra note 29, at 234.Google Scholar

256 Pointing to the conflict of interest Renzikowski, supra note 222, at 56, 59; Edzard Schmidt-Jortzig, Bekämpfung von Sexualdelikten in Deutschland und auf internationaler Ebene, 18 NStZ 441, 443 (1998); Hofmann, supra note 26, at 414.Google Scholar

257 According to § 60a (2) AufenthG.Google Scholar

258 Renzikowski, supra note 222, at 56.Google Scholar

259 § 203 StPO; Renzikowski, supra note 222, at 55.Google Scholar

260 Zeugenschutz.Google Scholar

261 § 170 (2) StPO. Roxin, Strafverfahrensrecht § 14 B II (25th ed. 1998); Beulke, Strafprozessrecht para. 333 (2nd ed. 1996).Google Scholar

262 §§ 153c, 154b StPO.Google Scholar

263 § 154b (3) StPO.Google Scholar

264 Principle of immediacy, § 250 StPO.Google Scholar

265 Supra, note 228.Google Scholar

266 Renzikowski, supra note 222. For recent data, see BKA, Lagebild Menschenhandel 16 (2002), available online. Out of a total number of 811 victims of trafficking, 17 % where deported, 27.5% were expelled, 16.3 % received a tolerance permit, 23.9 % returned voluntarily, and 5.5 % entered a witness protection program. The whereabouts of 21.1 % was unknown; see also Thoma, supra note 175, at 27.Google Scholar

267 §§ 180b, 181 StGB.Google Scholar

268 § 60a (2) AufenthG; BKA, Lagebild Menschenhandel 16 (2002).Google Scholar

269 § 251 (1) StPO; Thoma, supra note 175, at 27.Google Scholar

270 § 251 (2) StPO.Google Scholar

271 Walter, supra note 89, at 476; Hofmann, supra note 26, at 410.Google Scholar

272 BGH, 9 NStZ-RR 233 (2004) dismissed an appeal on points of law. The appeal challenged a conviction on the grounds that absent witnesses, the whereabouts of whom were not known, were not heard. The court held that this did not vilify the conviction as the read-out statements were only used in so far as supported by other evidence. See also BGH, judgment of 2 July 2002, 1 StR 135/02; and judgment of 30 July 2002, 1 StR 82/02 in which a witness could not be found in Poland and a conviction for rape could not be obtained, especially since the original statement was not recorded and could only be introduced into the proceedings by summoning the original interviewer.Google Scholar

273 BGH, 9 NStZ-RR 233 (2004) (supra note 272); BGH, judgment of 2 July 2002, 1 StR 135/02. See, however, in this context the case-law of the Eur. Ct. H.R., Lüdi v. Switzerland, judgment of 15 June 1992, Series A, No. 238, p. 21, para. 49; Birutis and others v. Lithuania, judgment of 28 March 2002, 2002 ECHR 350 in the context of the rights of defence under Art. 6 (1) ECHR.Google Scholar

274 § 244 (5) 2nd sentence StPO.Google Scholar

275 Hofmann, supra note 26, at 411.Google Scholar

276 § 247a StPO, Statute of 30 April 1998, BGBl. 1998 I, p. 820. Cf. BGH, judgment of 18 May 2000, StR 647/99, 46 BGHSt 73 = 53 NJW 2517 (2000); judgment of 23 March 2000, 1 StR 657/99, 20 NStZ 385 (2000).Google Scholar

277 § 66b StPO.Google Scholar

278 BGH, 9 NStZ-RR 233 (2004).Google Scholar

279 § 395 StPO.Google Scholar

280 §§ 180b, 181 StGB.Google Scholar

281 BGBl. 1998 I, p. 820.Google Scholar

282 § 406g StPO.Google Scholar

283 §§ 403 ff. StPO, so-called adhesion procedure.Google Scholar

284 A statute (Second Victim Protection Act, BT-Drs. 15/814 of 8 April 2003) passed by the Bundesrat on 14 May 2004 is intended to make the compenzation of victims in criminal proceedings easier by restricting the possibilities to refuse such applications.Google Scholar

285 See, e.g., BGH, 9 NStZ-RR 233 (2004).Google Scholar

286 Statute of 7 January 1985 as amended on 6 December 2000, BGBl. 1985 I, p. 1, 2000 I, p. 1676.Google Scholar

287 § 138 BGB; Dreixler, supra note 29, at 239.Google Scholar

288 BGH, 45 NJW 2557 (1992); now departing from this in 55 NJW 1885 (2002), referring to a change in morality; Christian Armbrüster, Zivilrechtliche Folgen des Gesetzes zur Regelung der Rechtsverhältnisse der Prostituierten, 55 NJW 2763 (2002).Google Scholar

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290 See, e.g.“ Brigitte Kelker, Die Situation von Prostituierten im Strafrecht und ein freiheitliches Rechtsverständnis, Kritische Vierteljahresschrift für Rechtswissenschaft 289 (1993).Google Scholar

291 Heinrichs, in Palandt, § 138, Anh., para. 2; Armbrüster, 55 NJW 2763, 2764, and 2765 (2002); Cf. BGH, 55 NJW 1885 (2002); see also Dreixler, supra note 29, at 238.Google Scholar

292 See supra, notes 13, and 16.Google Scholar

293 Similar Alt/Fodor, p. 101 f.Google Scholar

294 LKA NRW, Lagebild Menschenhandel Nordrhein-Westfalen, p. 29 (2002).Google Scholar

295 Id., at 24.Google Scholar

296 For recent legislation in this direction, see the example of Italy. Claudia Pisanello, Trafficking and Smuggling in Human Beings: The Italian Legal Perspective, in Guild & Minderhoud, supra note •; Raffaela Puggioni, Smuggling and Trafficking in Italy, in Guild & Minderhoud, supra note •.Google Scholar