Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-03-15-Speech-3-203"
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".
Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, before going any further, I would like to remind you that the Member States of the European Union played a very important role in the Beijing Conference in 1995 and in preparing the Beijing Action Platform. Since the adoption of that platform, the European institutions and the Member States have been working hard to ensure that it is applied both at national and European Union level.
In any case, this problem needs to be taken very seriously, not just because of the number of people involved, but also because trafficking in women is a form of organised crime that is evidently on the increase throughout the world, as it generates high profits in return for relatively low risks as far as the traffickers are concerned. Some of this trafficking is on a small scale, but there are also big international companies and networks behind a sophisticated and well-organised industry, with political support and economic resources in the countries of origin, transit and destination. This is why this question needs to be tackled at the highest level, and in particular in conjunction with the United Nations.
Mrs Avilés Perea, you will certainly be aware that discussions are taking place on a protocol aimed at preventing, eliminating and punishing traffic in human beings, especially in women and children, which would complement the United Nations convention against organised crime. To this end, the Council recently adopted a decision authorising the Commission to negotiate on this very protocol.
The Member States of the European Union are also playing a very active role in the meeting of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women which is preparing the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on women.
To conclude, I would like to reiterate that the Council continues to attach great importance to the issue of trafficking in women and children, and I hope that I have been able to allay some of your fears, Mrs Avilés Perea, at least in relation to the Council’s efforts in this field.
As regards the specific question of trafficking in women, which is covered in the chapter on violence against women, the objectives are very clear. Various measures are to be taken by the governments of the countries of origin, transit and destination of the regional and international organisations, and Mrs Avilés Perea is quite right in drawing attention to the violation of women’s safety and dignity in Europe by the threat posed by trafficking. You may rest assured that the other institutions are taking this subject very seriously, and some measures have, in fact, already been taken to combat trafficking, and I would like to sum these up as briefly as possible.
Firstly, starting in November 1993, the Justice and Home Affairs Council agreed a series of recommendations on trade in human beings for prostitution, with a view to combating trafficking in human beings. Two years after that, this House took on this subject: apart from adopting a number of resolutions, it also produced a report and a resolution which specifically addressed trafficking in human beings.
For its part, the Commission published an initial communication on trafficking in women and, in 1996, that is to say the year immediately after the Beijing Platform was adopted, it launched the STOP programme, with an annual budget of EUR 6.5 million. The importance of this programme should not be underestimated, given that it has helped to finance a great many projects and has proved to be genuinely effective.
Thirdly, back in 1996, the Commission and the International Organisation for Migration organised an interdisciplinary conference in Vienna, which brought together representatives from Member States, the institutions, the European Union, the academic world, and various non-governmental organisations. A number of conclusions emerged from this work.
Lastly, also in 1996, the Council approved a common action to combat trafficking in human beings and the sexual exploitation of children. In 1997, the Ministerial Conference in The Hague resulted in The Hague Ministerial declaration on a European Code of Conduct to prevent and combat trafficking in women for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Lastly, in 1998, the Commission adopted a further communication on new measures to combat trafficking in women.
I would also like to point out that this issue is periodically considered under the transatlantic dialogue, because this phenomenon also affects countries like Canada and the United States, and is not limited to the area immediately adjacent to the European Union. We believe that it is increasingly important to exchange views with other destination countries so as to make a comparative assessment of this phenomenon and to establish a series of harmonised measures for controlling it.
This issue has, of course, been a regular agenda item in contacts with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe which are both transit countries and even the countries of origin for the great majority of this traffic. Campaigns are being financed under the PHARE programme in this field, some with support from the International Organisation for Migration.
I would like to make it clear that the Council does not wish to comment on the figure of 300 000 women falling victim to trafficking in Europe given by the Swiss Foreign Minister. There is no statistical data on this very specific subject, because we have to work with figures that are very difficult to obtain, given that we are talking about illegal immigration on the one hand and about illegal employment on the other, but it seems to us at first sight that this number is rather high. We think that an attempt should be made to assess this figure more accurately, and we should not get involved in commenting on an estimate of this kind, which does not seem to us to be well founded."@en1
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