Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-03-13-Speech-1-073"
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Madam President, ladies and gentlemen, the questions posed by Mrs Záborská and by the other speakers demand a detailed response on my part: it is only right and proper that I provide some concrete answers. Sixteen different points have been addressed in the various questions, and some very precise requests made, to which I will try to respond.
I can therefore confidently state that the German Federal Government, on the word of its Minister of the Interior, not only assures us that it will fully cooperate, but also calls for the Council of Interior Ministers, which is due to meet in April, to examine the issue with the aim of developing an operational strategy. It will be a non-legislative strategy in this case, but a truly operational one in terms of prevention on the ground, with the aim of preventing the sporting event from being used for the purposes of transferring a huge number of victims of this abhorrent trafficking.
At this point, I should like to make two remarks concerning the practical measures that I, in my capacity as a Commission representative, intend to present to the April summit of the Council of Interior Ministers. As regards the issue of visas, first of all, I would like to make it very clear in particular to Mrs Gröner – but also to those who wrote me letters after the seminar of 8 March – that I have never intended, wanted or planned to introduce visas for women. Visas are not introduced by category of person; visas are governed by country and by nationality. I had announced the plan to assess whether some non-EU countries, which are significantly at risk, are currently not subject to the visa requirement and therefore whether it might be advisable to temporarily extend the visa requirement for a country that is the source of a likely trafficking operation; this obviously did not include women. I apologise if I was misinterpreted at the seminar of 8 March.
I have looked into this matter and I can also give you the answer: according to police data, all of the flows of trafficked persons that originate from countries outside the European Union are subject to the visa requirement. It will not, therefore, be necessary to make changes to the current visa system simply because all the non-EU countries that, according to the statistics, are ‘at risk’ are already covered by the visa requirement. In any case, it was never a question of introducing a visa requirement for women, but merely of providing for more checks on some countries. There is no problem, but it is clear – and I will submit a proposal to the Council along these lines – that consulates need to carry out more checks in terms of ascertaining visiting groups’ actual purposes of travel, since it is obvious that those who traffic women for sexual purposes declare, or make the women declare, false reasons.
It is therefore incumbent on border guards and consulates to carry out the checks – something that requires cooperation among all of the EU Member States – and they will have to be enhanced checks to ascertain the veracity of the declared objectives. As you know, people often declare that they are visiting a country purely for tourism, which is a lie. In-depth checks are necessary.
Furthermore, it is clear that, as some of you have suggested, practical victim support measures are crucial. Personally, I support the idea of promoting dedicated telephone lines, that is to say telephone lines that, by means of a simultaneous interpreting service, can offer immediate assistance in as many foreign languages as possible.
Obviously, this relates to both the period during which the World Football Cup takes place and the period that follows: measures such as these cannot stop in July 2006. These measures providing immediate and operational support can be considered well and truly as part of European action, thanks to the projects and the funding that Europe can allocate to practical proposals of this kind.
Another measure that I consider necessary is a comparative study of all of the Member States’ laws on prostitution and on the connection between prostitution – where it is legal – and trafficking in human beings for sexual purposes. There is clearly a link between the rise in demand and, shall we say, the incentive for traffickers to carry out this shameful activity. There exists a study promoted by this very Parliament, which is precisely a study on transnational crime. On the basis of that very study, I intend to propose carrying out a comparative study in order to have a clearer insight into what constitutes the link between the rise in demand and the rise in trafficking.
Naturally, still in the scope of the Daphne programmes, it will be possible for the European Union to cofinance initiatives on this issue with the aim of increasing the public’s awareness of the need to reduce the demand for prostitution. In fact, reducing the demand for prostitution limits or helps limit trafficking of persons for sexual purposes.
Another proposal that can be made relates to more in-depth contact with local governments, regional governments and town councils. It is clear that phenomena such as these are present throughout the EU and, as you know, a European Crime Prevention Network does in fact exist. We will see whether it will be possible for this European network or other systems to enable local governments to become more involved in the activity of prevention, on the one hand, and of helping the victims of trafficking, on the other.
In terms of victim support, there is also the application of the rules that were cited just now, which place in a certain category female victims and those who are, in general, victims of trafficking in human beings or of forced prostitution. In the aforementioned European legislation, it is specifically the European directive of 2004 that guarantees the granting of residence permits, as someone requested a short while ago, and you are aware that the Member States can transpose the European directive until 6 August 2006: fortunately some Member States have already done so and, in order to give a little encouragement to the Member States that have not done so by spring, in other words much earlier than August, I shall convene a technical meeting with the representatives of all of the Member States in order to understand which problems have, to date, prevented the transposition of that directive into national law and in order to formally request, before the deadline expires, that, by August, all of the Member States guarantee the victims of sexual exploitation and of trafficking in human beings the preferential treatment stipulated by the European legislation.
More generally, I find it unthinkable that one might take advantage of a sporting event, which in principle ought to be an opportunity for promoting positive values, in order to tolerate or encourage forced prostitution. In this regard, I have heard a truly saddening reference, namely that football and sex go hand in hand, as though forced prostitution were the inevitable consequence of a large sporting event. Rather, this is the opposite of sport’s most wholesome values.
Other important questions remain, such as the need for real statistical data on the phenomenon. As I had already mentioned, we intend to launch a debate, accompanied by an appropriate publication, in a few weeks’ time, and we will present a European communication on a typology of European statistical data on crime, with specific reference to this type of crime, so that we can at least be certain that we have reliable statistical data on the phenomenon, on its victims, on the complaints lodged and on the penalties imposed.
Obviously, this is not an initiative dedicated solely to the World Cup championship in Germany; it is a necessary initiative in the medium-term. Madam President, I am about to conclude, and I apologise for the length of my speech, but there were 16 different points and I should not like it if one of the speakers were to say later on that I had not provided answers.
We will promote a programme in order to increase awareness of the phenomenon at European level. I am personally in favour of the idea of a European day against trafficking in human beings and forced prostitution and, in a few weeks’ time, I intend to organise a technical seminar – which will obviously be open to everyone – for exchanging best practices with a view to preventing this phenomenon. Thank you.
It therefore seems necessary to begin with legislation, and precisely with the relevant European legislation adopted in this context, which provides for the prosecution of those who help force people – women and children mainly, but, it must be said, men too – into prostitution.
As you are aware, a European framework decision exists, while on the subject of Germany, there is currently a national law in place that entered into force in 2005; in other words, it is a fully applicable law. We will also prepare a report to the Council and to Parliament before the end of April on the application of the framework decision on trafficking in human beings and on the criminal prosecution measures so as to ensure that all of the Member States have adopted national laws transposing this framework decision before the World Cup football championship takes place.
Among the most important rules is one that requires the Member States to prosecute those responsible in their countries of origin and not in the country in which they committed their crimes. The framework decision stipulates this with the aim of ensuring that trials are actually carried out and that criminal penalties are imposed.
After the report has been presented, between now and the end of April, the Council – and Parliament too, if it considers that it will be useful – will be able to thoroughly address the topic of the latest measures that could be adopted at European level, or rather at European legislative level. I believe that in relation to these measures, we ought to consider – even if we do not give a definitive answer right now – whether we should punish those who, as customers, take advantage of people’s services, knowing that these people have been victims of force and even in some cases of a genuine trafficking operation that has led them into slavery.
Obviously, the issue of the legality of prostitution is addressed in the Member States in very different ways. Nevertheless, I believe that if the customer is aware that the person with whom he is talking is a victim of trafficking, of force or of coercion, then he must think twice about what he is doing, including from the point of view of a possible criminal penalty.
The role of Europol and Eurojust in this area must clearly be developed. Among the priority issues that I raised when I met the President of Eurojust and the Director of Europol was precisely that of strengthening Europol’s and Eurojust’s capacities in terms of the application of the action plan against trafficking in human beings that we presented, as this Parliament will recall, at the end of last year. Europol can play a very important role in the coordination of European measures to combat these abhorrent types of crime. We have already successfully combated paedophilia, having succeeded thanks to action by Europol aimed at dismantling a paedophile network in 13 European countries; this is another area that needs to be followed up.
There is, then, the specific issue of the World Cup in Germany: I had made a promise to this Parliament, when this topic was first discussed, that I would formally involve the German Federal Minister of the Interior. I obviously did so, and Minister Schäuble, whom I approached, replied to me a few days ago formally assuring me that not only will the federal law in force be rigorously applied, but that it will also be specifically accompanied by prevention initiatives on the ground in all of the German cities involved in staging the football matches."@en1
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