Weaker rights in south-eastern Europe” “

Over the last fifteen years, the region of south-eastern Europe has been marked by deep – in some cases tragic – changes at the social, economic and political level in a context of political and economic transition, crisis and war. This has affected countries in various ways, i.e. through legal and illegal flows of migration, low growth and development rates, organized crime, etc. It seems that the worst is now over, but there are still many problems that need to be solved. CHANGE AND RESISTANCE. The European Parliament has recently debated the situation in all the countries of the western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro), in the three candidate countries (Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey), and in Greece. The changes to the benefit of women are gradually gaining ground, but often clash with the resistance of traditional cultural codes, customs and ancient cultural practices.. A practice still in force in Turkey, for example, is that of the “crime of honour”. The term is used to describe the murder of a woman suspected of having broken the bonds of sexual conduct through a premarital or extramarital affair. The trafficking of women currently represents one of the most urgent and complex problems linked to human rights, with huge implications for the stability, democratisation and rule of law in south-eastern Europe. Controlled as it is by international organized crime, this “sexual trade” has considerably grown in recent years. The region has been repeatedly recognized as an area very vulnerable to large-scale prostitution and the sexual trafficking of women and children. AN OPEN TRADE. One of the most disturbing features is the fact that the trafficking of women rarely occurs in a clandestine way. On the contrary in Bosnia Herzegovina women are openly sold and bought on the large black market near Brcko. The main centres of the white slave trade in Serbia are situated close to the frontiers, in southern Serbia (close to the administrative frontier of Kosovo), in eastern Serbia and in northern Vojvodina. A disturbing growth of the trafficking in very young girls is also being registered. Women and girls are usually sold at a price that varies between $250 and $500. Whole families that live along the frontiers are often involved in the criminal networks that control the trade. The main routes of the trade depart from Moldavia, Ukraine and other republics of the former Soviet Union; they lead through Romania, Bulgaria and the states of former Yugoslavia, before arriving in Greece, Italy and Western Europe. Often these routes coincide with those of weapons and drugs. With a view to combating this trade and its dramatic consequences, a Task Force on the trafficking of human beings was established on 18 September 2000. The Task Force was set up as part of the EU’s Stability Pact for south-eastern Europe. CULTURE AND VIOLENCE. Unfortunately, violence against women and misogyny are closely connected with the social tolerance of violence in general in the countries that have suffered the consequences of war, dependence and poverty. Violence, war and poverty create a vicious circle for many women and child victims, and for many of those guilty of the abuses against them, from which it is difficult to break out. Traditional cultures in the countries of south-eastern Europe often tolerate violent forms of conduct towards women (and children), and the whole question is still covered by a veil of shame which inhibits women from speaking about it openly and claiming the fundamental human rights that are their due. Public awareness of the question of violence is still very low and there’s still a total absence of suitable institutional support. Even the mass media do not recognise, still less adequately confront, the problem of violence against women and children. In this dramatic situation women end up by submitting to and accepting domestic violence, since they know they can find no support in social institutions. Lastly, without entering into the details of what strategy needs to be adopted, it is clear that the project of the progressive integration of these countries in the European Union must lead to a sharp cultural change in their attitude to and respect for women.