Against the trafficking of women” “

“Christian action and the network against the trafficking of women”: that’s the title of the document published by the Commission for Migrants of the Conference of European Churches (CCME) and by Caritas Europe, presented in Brussels on 10 December. “The trafficking of women – says Torsten Moritz , spokesman of the Commission – is one of the most dramatic violations of human rights. In recent years, CCME and Caritas Europe have launched a programme of joint work (the so-called CAT project) to try to solve this problem. The most important results achieved through this project are gathered in the booklet”. The trafficking of women is in fact a phenomenon of global dimensions and for years the Church and connected organizations have been denouncing it and seeking remedies with activities of prevention and assistance. But since the trafficking of women “is a transnational phenomenon, the responses to it must be of the same type”. Hence the present publication, of which we cite some passages below. “Unimaginable” exploitation. There are between 500,000 and 700,000 women victims of trafficking, especially from the countries of Eastern to those of Western Europe, according to the estimates of the UNO, the OECD and the European Commission. “In many cases – says the introduction to the booklet – women leave their country not only in the hope of having a regular income, but also to support their families. A woman can only have a vague idea of what awaits her, but the scale and brutality of the exploitation she will have to endure are in fact unimaginable. The lives of women are destroyed; they are abused and kept in conditions of slavery, with enormous physical, mental, emotional and social consequences for themselves and their families”. The CAT project (Christian Action and Networking against Trafficking), supported by the EU programme Stop II, has promoted the exchange of experiences between the organizations of ten European countries. In the publication recently presented in Brussels, various practical difficulties that the organizations encounter in their work are listed. For example, there are problems of logistic type, because it’s not always easy to enter into contact with the girls, understand their language, and overcome their fears…. There’s also the question of models of social assistance, including social re-integration in their home country, though “this does not solve the problems because the girls risk being traced anew by their traffickers”. The booklet underlines the importance of collaboration at the local, national and international level in the various activities of prevention and assistance, and ends with a series of recommendations. Ten recommendations to prevent and combat the trafficking of women: first, “combating the causes that lie at the origin of the trafficking of human beings, by changing the social, economic and cultural conditions in which women live”. That includes “appropriate policies of support for regular employment, social and vocational guidance”, and “measures to overcome the diversities of gender and stereotypes between men and women”. These latter include “gender education in schools, in church-run youth clubs and in adult groups”. The project has also ascertained the ineffectiveness of the campaigns run in some countries in Eastern Europe that describe the risks of irregular emigration in search of work. It suggests instead “providing information on how to reduce the risks of falling into the trap of the white-slave trade”. To “offer women an alternative”, “clear, transparent and accessible channels for immigration, with opportunities for vocational guidance”, are desirable. Other recommendations include the training of public officials and volunteers on how to enter into contact with the girls, legal recognition of the role of assistance played by NGOs, the “depenalization of women victims of the trade”, financial support for relief projects, and social integration in countries of origin or of “long-term” settlement.