(de-news.net) – The Federal Ministry of Justice has introduced a comprehensive proposal to revise Germany’s criminal code in order to fortify legal safeguards against human trafficking and exploitation. Spearheaded by Justice Minister Stefanie Hubig, the legislative initiative aims to broaden the scope of prosecutable offenses by incorporating additional forms of exploitation that have thus far remained outside the purview of existing statutes. These include forced labor, forced marriage, adoption-related abuses, and exploitative surrogacy arrangements. The overarching objective of the reform is to ensure that perpetrators are subject to more stringent penalties and that law enforcement authorities are equipped with clearer legal instruments to pursue such cases more effectively.
The ministry has indicated that while surrogacy remains prohibited under German law, it is not automatically classified as exploitation within the current legal framework. However, it maintained that circumstances involving coercion, deception, or manipulation in the context of surrogacy could meet the threshold for human trafficking. The proposed legislation also introduces demand-side criminal liability across all categories of exploitation, thereby extending accountability beyond the realm of sexual services.
Government representatives have emphasized that human trafficking continues to pose a serious challenge within Germany, particularly in sectors such as construction, caregiving, and forced prostitution. The Justice Ministry described forced prostitution as a particularly egregious form of exploitation, noting that victims — predominantly women and girls — are often recruited under false pretenses, deprived of personal liberty, and subjected to systematic control and abuse.
This legislative proposal represents the most substantial update to trafficking-related provisions since the last reform in 2016. The draft has been formally distributed to federal states and relevant stakeholder organizations, which have been invited to submit their feedback by 28 November 2025.
