"Please Beware of Pickpockets"

Hundreds of children are being recruited, trained and forced into working as criminals in the streets of Paris. In response, France continues to focus on the effects of their criminal activity instead of the cause. 

Standing on the packed metro a slight pressure nudges the back of his pants, immediately the warnings of concerned friends and family come to mind: watch out for 'the pickpockets.' Reflexively he grabs the hand now halfway into his jean pocket and whips around to face the thief, in the process breaking the mans arm but saving his wallet.

Before coming to Europe, many people have only experienced pickpockets in stories such as Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist."

However, living in Paris it can seem nearly impossible to go a day without encountering the repeated warnings about 'the pickpockets' known to infamously plague the European continent. Yes, people being stolen from is a problem, but all too often the overarching issue is completely disregarded: Why do pickpockets exist to begin with? 

Unfortunately, a growing reason for their presence in Paris, as well as other EU countries, is the continuation of slavery within Europe's boarders. What many often fail to realize in their quest not to become the victims of pickpockets, is the possibility that the true victims are the pickpockets themselves. 

Last month, France's National Commission for Human Rights stated that, "Human slavery in France is a little known reality." The commission went on to explain that while sexual exploitation forms a significant (and often times most recognized) part of the modern slave trade, domestic slavery, sweatshop workers, and minors forced to work as beggars and thieves by criminal institutions is also heavily included. 

In fact, just this past February, a Romanian pickpocket ring was busted for using child slaves to steal from tourists visiting Disneyland in Paris. The thieves, some as young as seven years old, wore Mickey Mouse ears and reportedly 'earned' more than €6,000 a day (with one child supposedly earning over €100,000 per month). The ringleaders, or 'minders' as they called themselves, gained a profit of over €1.1 million per year and now face up to 30 years in prison for multiple offenses including human trafficking. In regards to the child thieves, the courts are required to treat those under the age of 13 as minors and place them into homes. However, as many of the children have been previously arrested for similar offenses (some up to a dozen times), police are pessimistic that the children will avoid returning to the lifestyle they have been trained for. 

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What is Europe doing to combat the issue?

In 2015, Europol estimated that each child trafficked into the UK as a slave had an earning potential of £120,000 a year. Despite these findings, Europe continues to dedicate an underwhelming amount of resources to bring about the end of modern-day slavery. Europe must acknowledge the number of people becoming entrapped and exploited as slaves within their boarders as the International Labor Office has estimated that 29% of current 'slaves' end up in forced labor after crossing international borders. 

It is time to stop relying on black and white definitions for who is the criminal and who is the victim. In modern times these labels are becoming increasingly blurred as those who seem to be the exploiters are often times the exploited. European governments must work to differentiate those who are freely committing crimes and those who are committing crimes under forced servitude. 

For more information on ways to combat modern-day slavery click here. To discover how many slaves work for you, click here.