Five people have been arrested and charged in Spain after a 14-year-old girl was sold for 5,000 euros, whisky, and food. Among those responsible were the girl's parents.

A sordid transaction took place in Spain last January. A Roma couple living in Navarre, northern Spain, sold their 14-year-old daughter to another family in exchange for €5,000, food, and five bottles of whisky. The buyers, a family residing in Pla d'Urgell, intended to marry the girl to their son, according to a report published online by the local media outlet Segre on November 8.

The accused had taken the girl out of school and forced her to beg for many months. She was found by law enforcement in the town of Borges Blanques, in Catalonia.

The couple who bought her, their son, and the victim's parents were arrested for human trafficking for the purpose of forced marriage. The teenager was then taken to a protection center, where she is currently receiving specialized care and support.

Child trafficking on the rise

Since 2009, the Mossos d'Esquadra (local police force) have recorded nearly twenty cases of forced marriage in the Ponent region of Catalonia. According to data published by the local police, nine involved adults and the others minors. The highest number of cases were reported between 2010 and 2020, mostly by the victims' families and friends, but sometimes directly by the individuals involved.

In March 2025, a UN expert raised the alarm about the rise in child trafficking worldwide. This crime, considered "low-cost and low-risk," continues to grow and evolve both within states and transnationally. According to the latest Global Trafficking in Persons Report, children account for 38% of identified victims globally. This represents a significant increase compared to 2019.

This increase mainly affects young girls and women: "This increase is particularly marked among girls. In addition, the real number of child victims is probably much higher than the number reported. Children are often invisible among the victims of trafficking, which means that the number of reports is lower than the reality," Moroccan politician Najat Maalla M'jid denounced before the United Nations General Assembly.