Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2006-11-15-Speech-3-323"
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"Mr President, I wish to begin by congratulating the rapporteur on this very important report. The European policy against trafficking in human beings is a priority not only for this Parliament but also for the European Commission and myself.
Furthermore, the root causes of trafficking must be addressed, including poverty, lack of job opportunities, gender violence and gender discrimination. My departments will shortly be hosting an inter-departmental seminar on this issue, precisely to focus on the main problems that are emerging.
One last important point is awareness-raising. The Commission is supporting the designation of an anti-trafficking day, possibly on 11 June. That initiative aims at increasing the visibility of the problems connected with trafficking and the measures taken to counteract trafficking itself. It will call for cooperation from public institutions and civil society and evaluate the quality and the results of all the actions that are under way.
There is a need for further and more effective action to fight trafficking. Even though many initiatives have been taken at national and international level, the results are not comparable to the enormous scale of the criminal phenomenon. The European action plan approved, as you will remember, last December, is the framework for practical action aimed at tackling all aspects of trafficking.
I should like to stress some priorities that, in my view, are necessary. First, for the Member States, it is essential that they accelerate the application of Directive 2004/81/EC on the residence permit issued to third-country nationals who are victims of trafficking in human beings or have been the subject of an action to facilitate illegal migration and who cooperate with the competent authorities. It concerns, in particular, assistance and social reintegration measures, the reflection period and the issuing of the residence permit to victims of trafficking, taking into account also the Council of Europe Convention of 2005.
In this regard, it is important to point out that the reflection period and assistance measures are granted to victims irrespective of their willingness or capacity to cooperate with the law enforcement authorities and that, after the issuing of the residence permits, victims have access to the labour market, vocational training and education.
What is the situation so far? Unfortunately, it is very disappointing. So far
Member States have transposed the European directive and
other notifications of initiatives to transpose have been examined by the European Commission. There have been no notifications at all from 12 Member States. As you know, the transposition deadline expired on 6 August 2006 and I have therefore decided to start infringement procedures against all Member States that have not yet transposed this very important EU directive.
Concerning assistance and social reintegration, the need for close cooperation on a regular basis between public authorities, including law enforcement authorities, and NGOs must also be stressed. I believe it is very important to have close and permanent cooperation between public authorities and the private sector on protecting and reintegrating victims.
Concerning investigations, following the initiatives taken by Europol, international police cooperation between Member States’ special units should be enhanced. I am promoting and encouraging better and closer cooperation between all the specialised national units dealing with countering trafficking in human beings. However, on this point, there is a consideration I should like to submit to you. With regard to prosecution I note, with disappointment, that very often charges against criminals exploiting victims of trafficking – for example for sexual reasons – are very weak, focusing only on the simple exploitation of prostitution instead of on the very real charge, which should be the reduction of victims to slavery conditions. It is up to the prosecutors to decide charges, but I really hope that magistrates and judges will now take a much tougher line than in the past. That is the real situation.
There are also priorities for the European Commission. I have decided to set up an expert group on trafficking in human beings. That group of experts will deal specifically with indicators and criteria in order to identify different forms of trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation. In the same context, at the beginning of 2007 I shall propose European legislation on sanctioning employers who exploit illegal workers, whose working conditions are sometimes akin to slavery.
Concerning trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation, we shall shortly be producing a questionnaire aimed at evaluating, inter alia, the possible impact of new legislation criminalising the use of sexual services in the knowledge that the person concerned is a victim of trafficking. I am therefore keeping my promise to you about this questionnaire."@en1
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