"20 EU countries see rise in modern slavery risks - Study," 10 Aug 2017

Modern slavery risks have risen in nearly three quarters of the 28 member states of the European Union over the last year, reveals the 2nd edition of the annual Modern Slavery Index (MSI) from global risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft... [T]he five EU countries posing the highest risk are Romania, Greece, Italy, Cyprus and Bulgaria [which are] key entry points for migrants into the region who are extremely vulnerable to exploitation. The research...[which] assesses 198 countries on the strength of their laws, the effectiveness of their enforcement and the severity of violations, shows drops in the scores for 20 countries across the bloc [the largest rise in risk of any region]. The slavery situation in Romania is deemed as deteriorating worse than any country globally... Romania and Italy...have the worst reported violations in the EU, including severe forms of forced labour, such as servitude and trafficking... Germany and the UK have seen slight negative shifts in their scores, taking them just over the ‘low risk’ threshold into the ‘medium risk’ category of the index... Outside of the EU, Turkey experienced the world’s second largest [rise in modern slavery]... India and Thailand, have...shown improvements in their scores [despite being categorised as 'extreme risk' on slavery violations], due to better efforts to enforce slavery related laws... China...remains firmly entrenched among the worst performing countries in the ‘extreme risk’ category. North Korea, Syria, South Sudan, Yemen, DR Congo, Sudan, Iran, Libya, Eritrea and Turkmenistan are rated by the Modern Slavery Index as posing the highest risk of all countries measured.