The Czech Republic was a source, transit, and destination country for people subjected to human trafficking , both women in forced prostitution , and men and women working in forced labor.
Many Roma women from the Czech Republic were subjected to forced prostitution domestically as well as abroad. Men and women from Russia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan , Uzbekistan , Romania, Vietnam, Mongolia, Thailand , and Belarus were subjected to forced labour in the construction, forestry, agricultural, and service sectors and were exploited within and transited through the Czech Republic to other countries in the European Union.
Czech citizens were also subjected to forced labour in the United Kingdom. The U. In , the Organised Crime Index gave the country 5. The Czech government's record on law enforcement related to human trafficking is mixed. This Section includes some elements that are not considered as human trafficking by all jurisdictions, such as forced military service. The same year authorities prosecuted people for trafficking offences compared with in , leading to 83 convictions, an increase from 64 in Of those convicted in , only those convicted under Section , related to pimping, were sentenced to time in prison, and the number of convicted traffickers given a prison sentence decreased compared to the previous year.
In , only 23 percent 19 out of 83 trafficking offenders convicted served time in prison, down from 28 percent in 18 out of In , two traffickers were sentenced to between 15 and 25 years in prison, 16 were sentenced to one to five years, and one of those convicted was imprisoned for less than a year.
In , the police provided 12 training seminars to seasoned officers and cadets focused on investigation techniques as well as victim identification for both sex and labor trafficking offenses. According to the US State Department, the Czech government makes strong efforts to protect and assist victims of human trafficking, using formal victim identification procedures and a mechanism for referring victims to NGOs for assistance.
