A/HRC/38/45 haste when migrants are still traumatized as a consequence of their perilous journey,12 as well as severe overcrowding, lack of police protection, unhygienic conditions and abuse and exploitation, especially against women and children, have been widely reported and criticized in Greece and in Italy.13 19. It should be reiterated that identification in hotspots is mainly aimed at registering people in the Eurodac system through fingerprinting, rather than at identifying vulnerabilities, which are usually detected at a much later stage. In Greece and Italy, challenges in identifying vulnerabilities at the hotspot stage include: the de-prioritization of trafficking, in particular during large influx of migrants; the excessive profiling of certain types of victims, which risks excluding other potentially vulnerable groups from protection; a weak system of shelter allocation, which causes vulnerable groups to be subjected to a protracted stay in hotspots; a lack of reliable data in relation to identified victims; limited awareness among migrant communities about the unacceptability of incidents relating to gender-based violence and trafficking in human beings; impunity among perpetrators; infrequent police patrolling in residential areas of the hotspots at night; and a backlog of people not medically screened upon arrival. 20. A good practice identified in Italy concerns the presence of specialized agencies such as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), IOM and the NGO Save the Children at disembarkation points and hotspots, working in cooperation with the police and the Prosecutor’s Office to ensure the identification and referral of victims or possible victims of trafficking among the incoming migrants. 21. As regards Greek hotspots, a positive development has been the inclusion of trafficking in the standard operating procedures for the prevention of and response to sexual and gender-based violence, finalized in June 2017 and jointly agreed upon by the Ministry of Migration Policy, the Ministry of the Interior, international organizations and civil society. 14 However, weak sensitization of authorities and limited shelter capacity have resulted in a reluctance to report incidents of trafficking or gender-based violence to the appropriate services.15 22. In a context where the identification of trafficked or potentially trafficked persons is not a priority at disembarkation, the consequence is a very low number of victims and potential victims identified and protected at that stage, even in situations where anecdotal evidence and limited but significant research show that a high number of those travelling in mixed migration movements have been subjected to trafficking and exploitation during their journey and/or are at a high risk of being trafficked at their final destinations. Lack of identification of vulnerabilities and consequent referral to non-specialized reception centres can lead to further re-victimization and exposure to different forms of exploitation, such as recruitment for forced prostitution/sex work or labour exploitation.16 3. Identification at airports 23. Airports have a role in the identification of victims or potential victims of trafficking arriving in a country by plane, and especially children. According to FRONTEX and the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol), airports are considered to be the likeliest place to find children being trafficked or smuggled into the 12 13 14 15 16 Ibid. pp. 5–7. See also Oxfam, “Hotspot: Rights Denied”, Briefing Paper (May 2016). While the Special Rapporteur welcomes efforts by FRONTEX to develop individual complaint mechanisms in cases of violations of fundamental rights, this is limited to FRONTEX activities, and doubts have been raised in relation to the effective widespread dissemination among vulnerable groups and effective understanding of the tool, given also the lack of complaints filed in this regard, while it has been widely documented that violations have occurred on a regular basis, especially in hotspot areas. See also www.hrw.org/news/2016/05/19/greece-refugee-hotspots-unsafe-unsanitary. Submission of Fundamental Rights Agency. C. Healy and R. Forin, “Trafficking along migration routes to Europe: Bridging the gap between migration, asylum and anti-trafficking”, International Centre for Migration Policy Development policy brief (May 2018). Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), From Reception to Recognition: Identifying and Protecting Human Trafficking Victims in Mixed Migration Flows (2017), p. 30. 7