Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-07-04-Speech-2-122"
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"en.20000704.5.2-122"2
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"Mr President, it is a tragedy that it has taken the deaths of another 58 people to get the problem of trafficking firmly on the international, political agenda. The Dover disaster has once again opened our eyes to the unscrupulous practices of traffickers in human beings and to the powerlessness – or should that be unwillingness? – on the part of the European Union to stamp out this disgraceful type of exploitation.
Trafficking in human beings has grown into a bigger business than trafficking in drugs, according to
last week. Organised crime has discovered that this business is not only more profitable, there is less risk involved too. Every year, about half a million people are smuggled into the European Union. In the port of Dover alone, hundreds of illegal aliens are arrested on a daily basis. As the trafficking in human beings increases, so does the economic and sexual exploitation of these people. Traffickers demand astronomical amounts to smuggle their customers to the West. Upon arrival, their documents are often seized, as a result of which they are completely at the mercy of crime syndicates. Young girls are frequently raped during the journey and end up in prostitution or the illegal labour market later on. It is not unusual for victims who are unable to pay their debts to meet with terror and violence.
It is clear that traffickers in human beings are becoming more professional in their activities. Their infrastructure, communication and control facilities outstrip those available to the police or courts in the countries of origin or transit. This internationalisation of organised crime is in stark contrast to the inability of the EU Member States to adopt a coordinated approach in dealing with the trafficking in human beings. Everyone is agreed that the problem transcends the control, reception and repatriation capacities of the individual countries and that we need to join forces. But despite the best of intentions, European cooperation is leaving a great deal to be desired. We do not seem to manage, once the police and courts are involved, to rise above the nationalistic knee-jerk reaction. And organised crime is exploiting that situation. Enlargement of the European Union would merely aggravate the problem. The new countries are, due to their location, extremely vulnerable to the trafficking in human beings. What is more, their police and court systems are even less adequate than those of the current Member States. In our resolution, we at least call for the application of the principle of solidarity and make a few very specific proposals for far-reaching cooperation in the fight against the trafficking in human beings. If we want to prevent tragedies such as those at Dover from happening again, extending the Third Pillar should not be delayed any further, and we are hopeful after President Chirac’s address and Minister Queyranne’s speech."@en1
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