The Tier 1 status of Denmark in the 2025 Trafficking in Persons Report highlights the adherence of the country to the minimum international standards of efforts to combat human trafficking. The label indicates the institutional investments such as the setting aside of 118.2 million Danish kroner to the National Action Plan 2022-2025. Governments have been focusing on victim identification, enhanced inter-agency coordination and increased prosecution by updating investigative strategies and international coordination. The women’s shelters are always well-funded, whereas the men’s issues are addressed by the crisis facilities intended to cover wider protection requirements.
These measures notwithstanding, Tier 1 label conceals persistent gaps in relation to migrants, asylum-seekers and marginalised genders. The increase to 112 victims in 2023 is a step in the right direction in terms of detection but indicates that the majority of those victims are foreigners, mostly Nigerian and Thais. The fact that child victims were only three in number and in six years time has led to a re-evaluation of the cases of such by European surveillance agencies who are worried that minors are still not sufficiently spotted within the existing protection framework.
Vulnerabilities of migrants and asylum-seekers
Structural pressures within the asylum system expose migrants and asylum-seekers to more trafficking networks in Denmark. In most cases, the victims are also accommodated in the centers of other asylum-seekers with no specific trauma facilities, which concerns the NGOs regarding insufficient protection. The confusion of victims and non-victims of trafficking into community places may impede recovery, lower the likelihood to disclose and create difficulties in tracking re-trafficking threats. The immigration stringent policies also make people vulnerable by restricting the legal working opportunities and forcing them towards informal sectors where they are exploited.
Risk patterns are still going to be redefined in 2025 by the displacement of Ukrainian nationals that started in 2022. According to NGOs, numerous new refugees do not have both a stable income and a safe legal basis, so they are the easiest targets of traffickers who promise them job opportunities. The marginalized groups, such as transgender and nonbinary people in commercial sex work, are equally facing disproportionate exposure because of the overlapping social stigma and economic vulnerability.
Child victim identification challenges
The drastic reduction in the number of victims of children has brought about keen concern on the policy experts and social organizations. Trafficking victims who are legally recognized are either placed in foster care or residential homes, and those who are not formally recognized are sent to asylum centers. Such arrangements lead to inconsistencies of service delivery that adds to the danger of missing minors who are trafficked to lose sight of in the system before care is administered.
Barriers in detection
Frontline workers are not usually trained on how to interview trauma-informed, especially children who could be afraid of being retaliated by traffickers or fearful of the authority. Lack of coordination between schools, super social workers, and the asylum personnel further undermines early warning systems that are important in identifying minors who use forced labor and sexual exploitation.
Gaps in specialized care
The children who are in mixed asylum homes might not get the psychological and medical attention needed to recover traumas. This has led to the Council of Europe requesting that more investment should be made in child specific shelters and long-term reintegration programs that are cultural and language specific to the victims.
Cross-border complexities
Most victims of children have their origins in areas where the documentation is broken, making age verification and legal classification difficult. Such ambiguities complicate prosecution and undermine protective measures whenever traffickers can play on the loopholes in the administration.
Prosecution and legal framework enforcement
The Danish Penal Code section 262(b) gives penalties of up to six years of labor or commercial sexual exploitation, which is the cornerstone of the legal framework of anti-trafficking in Denmark. In 2023, Danish officials provided 42 investigations four times more than in 2022 indicating the intensification of the enforcement and the better organization of the evidence. Six traffickers were found guilty by the courts of labor and sex trafficking crimes, which is a small yet significant improvement in court decisions.
Nevertheless, the issue of the system being able to prevent progressively advanced transnational trafficking activities remains a concern. There is also better coordination with the EU partners but the case backlogs are still huge. According to legal proponents, lack of data-sharing among the member states makes it difficult to break down networks, which span over Scandinavia and the Baltics. At early 2025, a Danish legal expert observed that
“The enforcement framework is strong, but the operational bandwidth is not keeping pace with how traffickers evolve.”
Stakeholder perspectives on protection efforts
According to the domestic and international monitors, Denmark has come far in its legislative development but needs to combine its policy implementation with measures that will cover the special vulnerabilities of migrant communities. The Council of Europe highlights the weaknesses in the identification of foreign nationals, and recommends that police, social workers and immigration personnel receive more training. This is reflected in the 2025 U.S. State Department assessment which emphasizes the absence of specialized facilities in asylum centers and the need to adopt more models of protection that are trauma responsive.
Civil society concerns
The Danish government-funded NGOs have developed digital screening technology and enhanced victim outreach. Nevertheless, these organizations show that immigration regulations that demand moving asylum-seekers around every so often interfere with establishing trust with prospective victims. Lobbying organizations believe that those who are afraid of deportation are much more unlikely to identify themselves as victims of trafficking or to collaborate with investigations.
Perspectives from migrant communities
The representatives of the informal labor industry in Denmark note that debt bondage, document retention, and exploitative recruitment practices still prevail in the informal sector. According to community mediators that have been involved with West African migrants, many victims decide to remain silent since they believe there is an overlap between immigration enforcement and protection of victims.
Policy outlook
Danish authorities insist that, with the reforms identified in the National Action Plan, these gaps will be narrowed with the help of the increases in inter-agency coordination and a redesign of screening procedures. The 2025 progress report of the government focuses on future investments in digital monitoring systems, which will trace online trafficking routes in a more efficient way.
Strains between reputation and reality
The international image of the country as a powerful anti-trafficking actor is in contrast with the signs of inconsistency that are observable in the migrant protection system in Denmark. Although the Tier 1 status confirms that the high level of adherence to international standards is here, the phenomenon of living by vulnerable groups is much more intricate, which is characterized by lopsided access to safety, support, and legal assistance. The active approach of the country to laws and financing creates a strong background but the constant under-recognition of the minors, the structural imbalance in the asylum setting and the increased exploitation of the foreign nationalities demonstrate the gaps which cannot be covered even by the statistics improvement.
With the migration patterns and criminal networks evolving due to the geopolitical processes and the necessity to implement more targeted, culturally sensitive, and victim-centered approaches, the challenge facing Denmark is how to balance its robust policy frameworks and the necessity to focus their efforts more closely. The possibility of future reforms to overcome such rifts continues to be a critical issue that could define the next stage of the anti-trafficking environment in Denmark.