on Human Trafficking

According to the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (May 2005), “human trafficking” means the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation is defined, at a minimum, to include all forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.

 Human trafficking is big business: Approximately 27 million people, 80 % of them women, are enslaved world-wide. It is estimated that 500.000 women are brought illegally into the EU alone for sexual exploitation. According to the Council of Europe, profits in  trafficking of women have quadrupled during the last ten years – 5,6 to 10,5 billion € a year. This makes human trafficking one of the most profitable businesses after drug trafficking and arms trade.

 Human trafficking is often very well organised and therefore difficult to track: A 2003 UN/OECD report for South Eastern Europe said that anti-trafficking programmes had been dominated by repressive measures and had so  far only led to more hidden and better organised trafficking – often helped by corrupt officials. The cases of participation in trafficking and sexual slavery by members of the UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and DR Congo (MONUC) have shown that the presence of international police, military and civilian personnel is increasing rather than stopping sexual slavery and trafficking.

 Despite more anti-trafficking activities, the situation has not improved, neither in countries of destination, nor in transit countries or countries of origin during the last ten years. Among the reasons are lack of educational and economic opportunities, especially for women and young people, as well as lack of awareness, lack of ownership and leadership by political institutions, and lack of adequate training for judges, police officers etc.

Human trafficking will remain a problem as long as economic decline and high levels of unemployment as well as lack of rule of law create situations in which desperate people become easy targets for  trafficking.

Human trafficking is a transnational crime and can only be tackled at an international level.

 The European Greens therefore demand that

 - all EU member and other European states ratify and fully implement the “UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children”, which is a supplement to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/crime_cicp_signatures_trafficking.html)

- all EU member and other European states ratify and fully implement the “Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings”

 To prevent human trafficking to EU member states

- more support for sustainable economic development in the countries of origin and in transit countries

- establishing legal and accessible channels of migration and immigration as we do not wish to promote a wall surrounded Europe in which people of the South go and die as recently on the Ceuta and Mellila barbed wired fences.

- training of (im)migration and consular officials

- better cooperation of EU member states with officials and non-governmental organisations; provide funding of awareness raising campaigns in transit countries and countries of origin (i.e. in supporting the establishment of national referral mechanisms[1])

- EU member states should cooperate with and support transit countries and countries of origin to curb corruption and strengthen the rule of law

- preventive measures must be part of accession negotiations with those transit countries and countries of origin that are EU accession countries

-   Police must also be granted time to investigate criminal organisations as a whole rather than pick up some minor people of these organisations for occasional offences.

To secure safety and human rights of trafficked persons, especially women and children, in EU member and other EU countries

- EU member countries must acknowledge that preventing illegal immigration is not enough as 50 % of those deported will again become victims of human trafficking

- set up national referral mechanisms to identify and help victims of human trafficking

- ensure financial, psychological and medical support for victims and ensure that they can legally apply for residence permits, whether they are willing to cooperate with law enforcement authorities (testifying against traffickers) or not

- develop effective national witness protection programs

- secure permanent residence permits for those victims who cooperate with law enforcement authorities

- support victims who have returned to their countries of origin by institutionalised and concerted follow-up programmes

[1] According to the OSCE, a national referral mechanism „is a co-operative framework through which state actors fulfil their obligations to protect and promote the human rights of trafficked persons, co-ordinating their efforts in a strategic partnership with civil society.”