Icelandic Woman Charged with Human Trafficking

The Reykjanes District Court building.

The Reykjanes District Court building. mbl.is/Ófeigur

Vala Hafstað

An Icelandic woman has been charged with human trafficking, mbl.is reports. She allegedly subjected her four stepchildren to forced labor while they were young. The district prosecutor’s charges state that she used part of the children’s wages to have her own house built abroad.

RÚV was first to report the news, stating that this is the first time in a decade that someone in Iceland is charged with human trafficking. Charges were filed in the Reykjanes District Court earlier this month.

The charges state that the woman was married to the children’s father and that she brought the children to Iceland, where she housed them and provided them with jobs at the firm of which she was manager and in charge of daily operations.

Three of the children were made to work up to 13 hours a day, six to seven days a week. The fourth child worked up to two hours a day, three days a week.

The woman is said to have used the children’s wages — more than ISK 16 million (USD 122,000; EUR 110,000) — for her own benefit.

https://www.mbl.is/frettir/innlent/2021/12/18/islensk_kona_akaerd_fyrir_mansal/

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