Citizens’ protection

A plan of action to be undertaken by the European Commission, despite the accident in the resignations of the Maltese representative John Dalli and the polemics that ensued. Over the past days the Executive tackled various themes ranging from the economy (also relating to the European Council of October 18-19) to the environment, to the definition of the new program to provide food aid to indigent populations due to be presented the coming week. Two topical problems received special attention at the Berlaymont palace, seat of the College: the struggle on human trafficking and the preparation of a set of initiatives to regulate online gambling. Zero tolerance. "Depriving someone of their liberty, exploiting them and trading them as commodities for profit are serious human rights violations. Trafficking in human beings cannot be tolerated in any form, be it in Europe or anywhere else in the world". Cecilia Malmström, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, who spoke on the occasion of the European Day against human trafficking, to underline the seriousness problem in the old continent. "The issue of human trafficking is one of the most terrible crimes of our time – she confirmed -, where, according to latest estimates from the International Labour Organization (from June 2012), around 880.000 within the EU amounting to 1.8 per thousand inhabitants are the victims of forced labour, including sexual exploitation". On October 18 there has been an international conference, attended by Malmström, with the intention of "planning future actions and ensuring that all players cooperate to uproot this phenomenon". The Swedish Commissioner said: "we developed ambitious norms and procedures to fight human trafficking and Member States have expressed their political will in this direction. Now the priority is to pass from words to facts and translate legislation into reality". Acting on a global scale. Malmström said: "It implies an obligation, moral as well as legal, to act in partnerships with international organisations, with civil society organisations, in the EU and in the rest of the world". The Commission points out that while there is increasing public awareness on the seriousness of human trafficking, notably of woman and children, also on the part of political authorities, "preliminary findings show that" from 2008 to 2010 "the number of convictions on trafficking in human beings has decreased". For this reason the 2012-2016 "EU Strategy towards the eradication of trafficking in Human Beings", presented during the conference in Brussels, foresees "inter alia the establishment of national multidisciplinary law enforcement units specialised in human trafficking and supports Member States in establishing joint investigation teams". Gambling on the Internet. "On-line gambling is a fast developing business in Europe, with almost 15,000 websites already identified" and total revenues for almost 12 billion euros. The EU Commission is evaluating the situation of online gambling in EU27. After the "Green Paper" published last year it launched a public consultation and will now develop "a set of initiatives and actions" aimed at identifying legislative limits to protect citizens, consumers, promote transparency, avoiding fraud and "protecting the integrity of sport". The Executive is finalizing an "action plan" due to be presented -the date is yet to be confirmed – October 23. "EU States are updating their legislation on gambling – points out Commission – and it could be useful to share know-how, and best practices already implemented in Europe" thus encouraging cooperation at EU level. There are currently a great variety of national juridical frameworks on online gambling; legislation on patenting, payments, publicity and fight on fraud vary from one country to the next. The Commissioner for internal market, Michel Barnier, said: "The on-line gambling market in the EU continues to grow rapidly and generates important revenues that are sometimes channelled into good causes". Its expansion "must go hand-in-hand with a determination to protect our citizens, especially minors", and to ensure that offers of these types of services within the EU are sound and well-regulated. The main knots are the licences for online services, regulating advertising of games, payment systems, countering dependence on gambling, minors’ protection, preventing recycling.