SOU, Alm.del - 2009-10 - Bilag 211: Rapport fra IPU-seminar om menneskehandel

The seminar was hosted by the British House of Commons and brought togethermembers of Parliament from 20 European countries. A number of NGOs working tocombat human trafficking also attended. The seminar acquainted participants with thecurrent state of human trafficking in the world and in Europe in particular. It offered anopportunity for them to discuss ways in which parliamentarians can play a more robustrole in ensuring the implementation of existing legislation to stamp out human trafficking.Following is a summary of the main conclusions of the discussions.Setting the contextHuman trafficking takes many forms; be it sex trafficking, labour exploitation, childtrafficking or domestic servitude. Delegates also identified developing trends in personsbeing trafficked to engage in forced begging, forced marriage, to work as drug mules andto work in cannabis cultivation factories.Young women were identified as those most likely to be trafficked, although increasinglychildren were falling victim to this crime.Bulgaria and Romania were identified as source country hotspots within Europe. However,a worrying trend of developing trafficking routes has emerged from countries such asChina, Paraguay, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Uzbekistan.Existing anti trafficking schemesThe Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings wasidentified as a key development in the fight against trafficking. The Convention outlinesprinciples such as ensuring that criminal charges cannot be brought against the victims oftrafficking and providing residence permits for victims in their destination country. TheConvention also establishes a monitoring mechanism to ensure its enforcement. Delegatesencouraged all states to ratify this Convention that have not already done so. TheConvention is supported by a handbook which provides a practical toolkit forparliamentarians in their work against trafficking. The Handbook produced by the IPU andthe UN for parliamentarian on combating trafficking in persons is also a very useful tool.

2The UK All Party Group on Trafficking and the Nordic Council are particularly goodexamples of parliamentarians working together with colleagues across Europe to fighthuman trafficking. Increased co-operation between states will improve the efficacy ofexisting anti trafficking legislation. European parliaments were encouraged to establishsimilar cross party mechanisms over and above the formal committees of parliament.Law enforcement and human traffickingThe conviction of traffickers is an area that requires much improvement. Prosecutions forthe specific crime of trafficking are extremely low. In many cases the crime of trafficking isrejected and the trafficked convicted instead for a lesser offence (i.e. soliciting forprostitution). Often a conviction in a trafficking case is only successful at all when there isclear physical injury to the victim.Obtaining evidence from victims of trafficking is a very sensitive task and is not alwaysbeing handled appropriately. Consequently, many cases collapse due to fear from thevictim of reprisal from their trafficker. This is especially complicated in cases of childtrafficking.The seminar was briefed by representatives from the UK Metropolitan Police on a projectof co-operation between the UK and Romanian authorities which resulted in breaking ahuman trafficking ring worth £100 million. The ring sent thousands of Roma children fromRomania to the UK to commit various crimes, such as shoplifting, ATM skimming andforgery. Through close co-operation between both police forces the traffickers werebrought to justice. This project has been acknowledged by Europol as an example of goodpractice.How can parliamentarians combat trafficking?Prevention is the best protection that can be offered to victims of trafficking. Traffickingcan only truly be eradicated by identifying and tackling the factors that make peoplevulnerable to it, such as the lack of opportunity available in an impoverished area.Social initiatives and media campaigns can be particularly effective in warning of thedangers of trafficking to people in poor areas. The Nordic Council works on projects toempower girls in the Baltic States and Northwest Russia to counteract trafficking fromthese areas to Scandinavia. It is also important to target campaigns at potential abusers –such as clients of girls that have been trafficked for sex – so they are aware of the natureof the crime.Parliamentarians must utilise their unique roles to fight against human trafficking. Firstly,by raising the issue in both their legislature and speaking to their constituents,parliamentarians can increase general awareness of the issue. Secondly, parliamentarianscan work to ensure that projects working to combat trafficking receive appropriatefinancial assistance. Thirdly, parliamentarians can ensure that legislation in their ownparliament is appropriate and consistent with the problem. Fourthly, parliamentarians canexchange information and best practice with parliamentarians in other countries.

At the end of the seminar, the participants adopted a declaration which:Urges parliamentarians throughout Europe to develop a better understanding ofthe nature and extent of human trafficking; to join forces to stamp out this modernform of slavery by ensuring anti-trafficking legislation is effective; by increasingtheir efforts in sharing information and communicating more effectively with theircolleagues;Encourages governments to coordinate and redouble their efforts, in co-operationwith international institutions, law enforcement agencies and other bodies tocombat this evil crime, to create a hostile environment for traffickers in allcountries, to assist the rehabilitation of victims and if they have not yet done so, toratify without delay the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Traffickingin Human Beings;Calls for more international co-operation to tackle this problem in other parts ofthe world.