Intolerable slavery” “

It is almost impossible to estimate, with any certainty, the exact scale of the traffic in human beings in Europe. Police forces, NGOs and international organizations, all consider the relevant statistics wholly unreliable. For example, according to some estimates, 78% of women victims of the traffic come from the Balkan regions. Everyone agrees, however, on two facts: first, that women and children are the principal victims of this traffic; second, that the traffic is constantly growing. Six years have gone by since the Council of Europe began ringing the alarm bells, raising the awareness of member states and other international organizations on the indispensable need for cooperation in combating the traffic in human beings. Today, the Council of Europe is engaged in drafting a new European Convention, to put an end to the double persecution of the victims of the traffic: first, exploited by criminal gangs, and then treated as ‘delinquents’ in the countries in which they have been forced to live as slaves. AIMS OF THE CONVENTION. Preventing and combating the traffic in human beings; protecting the human rights of the victims; establishing suitable protection and assistance for them and for witnesses; and promoting international cooperation, investigations and measures to crack down on the phenomenon: that, in essence, is what is being proposed by the Convention of the Council of Europe against the traffic in human beings. Still awaiting final adoption, the Convention will be applied to all forms of ‘human trafficking’, both at the national and transnational levels, whether involving women, children or men, and all forms of exploitation, whether for sex, for work or for any other purpose. The future Convention firmly aims at cooperation between the member states of the Council, the pooling of information and the development of the necessary legislation to tackle the phenomenon on the territory. Collaboration between states in the field of the protection of children’s rights, against corruption, cyber-criminality, money laundering and drug trafficking, has been shown to be a sound deterrent in the fight against the trafficking of human beings. “RAISING THE AWARENESS OF CIVIL SOCIETY”. “Although no very reliable statistics are available – says the assistant general secretary of the Council of Europe, Mrs Maud de Boer-Buquicchio – we are convinced that the phenomenon of the ‘trade’ is rapidly growing. With the new Convention we want to have at our disposal a more decisive tool than mere political recommendations that, by their very nature, do not have the same effectiveness as an international treaty. The aim of this Convention is to act on the various aspects of the trade: by prevention, but also by protecting the victims, by instituting penal proceedings against traffickers and by developing international cooperation. At the same time it is important to heighten the awareness of the police forces, social workers, teachers, and all those who may help to eliminate this phenomenon, because the victims are far closer to us that we imagine”. SATISFACTION OF THE EUROPEAN CHRISTIAN ORGANIZATIONS. Satisfaction and appreciation for the new Convention of the Council of Europe against the trafficking in human beings – in particular for its paragraph that recommends countries to grant residence permits to the victims – have been expressed by Caritas EuropE, the Conference of European Churches ( Cec) and the Commission of the Churches for Migrants in Europe ( Ccme). In a joint statement they approve the text of the Convention, which strikes the right balance between the “reinforcement of the laws and the rights of the victims of the trade”. “The trafficking of human beings – they say – is linked to the lack of opportunities within the system of legal migration, discrimination against women, and social and democratic inequalities”. The three organizations question, however, “the usefulness of technical measures such as that of reinforcing frontier controls”. “What’s best for the victims of the trade – they say – ought to be the basic principle of the Convention”, which includes, among other things, “legal provisions to ensure proper information and assistance to the victims and the right to obtain long-term residence permits”. On the basis of their experience in 20 European countries, the three organizations also recommend that cooperation “between the public/governmental sector and non-governmental organizations” be kept at a high level.