Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-04-22-Speech-4-229"
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"en.20040422.6.4-229"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I should like to start by thanking Mrs Karamanou on her excellent report. I should now like to make some comments on trafficking in human beings in that region.
I have spent a lot of time working in the Balkans and continue to do so. I notice that a lot is happening there. Action is being taken and, as the Commissioner said, many programmes are in place. I have mixed feelings though. Yes, on the one hand there is progress, but what about the other hand? I am seeing more and more well-motivated young politicians, both men and women, who want to do something. Improvements can be seen in the towns, but things are still very different in the countryside.
Much has been said of the humiliation of the victims. We identified 5 203 victims between 2000 and 2003, but the actual number could be over 175 000. So a lot of work remains to be done. Since 2003 we have been seeing far fewer victims because the criminal sector is going more and more underground. What are they doing? They are bringing their victims, the girls, not to bars or brothels, but to private flats. This makes the networks much more sophisticated. Previously they operated in small groups, but now they are on their own – one dealer for each victim, and so the chance of catching them is smaller. It takes a lot of work. Secondly, blood vengeance is on the rise, not only among men but also involving women and children. If you are an Albanian woman, raped and kidnapped and taken to the West, what happens then? According to Albanian custom, this woman has shamed her family and even today they have the right to kill her. That is the current situation.
So, Commissioner, I would urge you to support actions aimed at gender equality and activities and training aimed at the police, the military and the authorities. Jobs must also be created, jobs with a reasonable wage, in order to deal with the problem of corruption. In addition, we should involve Balkan countries in the European institutions. Invite people from these countries to attend courses so that they can see that there is another, less corrupt, way."@en1
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