Against trafficking

New EU legislation has been proposed to step up the fight against the trafficking of human beings and provide stronger sanctions against child sexual abuse and child pornography. The European Commission has proposed in recent days a new directive that “will help to combat modern slavery by ensuring consistency of national rules on crimes and penalties, better assistance to victims and tougher action to prosecute criminals responsible for trafficking”. Still insufficient data. According to the EU, the knowledge that the public security and judicial authorities of the individual countries have of the trafficking of human beings is partial and insufficient to implement effective forms of action to curb it. The victims of trafficking within the 27 member countries “could amount to several hundred thousands, forced into prostitution or unskilled work”. Despite the scale of the problem, underlines the Commission, in 2006 (the most recent data available) “criminal prosecutions for this type of offence were only 1,500 throughout the EU and only 3,000 victims received assistance”. Trafficking, especially of girls and young women, “is a very profitable activity, mainly run by professionals of organized crime”, operating inside and outside the borders of the EU. Under the new legislation, “the countries of the Union will be obliged to prosecute their own citizens also for crimes they commit in other countries and to apply more aggressive methods to combat organized crime, for example by using telephone intercepts”.Slavery, physical maltreatment, exploitation. EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmstrom declared: “In the 21st century we should not have women and girls reduced to sexual slavery, children beaten and mistreated, forced to beg and steal, and young adults compelled to work in appalling conditions for hunger wages. These crimes are not acceptable under any circumstances. We must do everything possible to stop the people responsible for these acts”. The rules proposed by the Commission, which must now pass to the scrutiny of the European Parliament and Council, “would oblige EU member states to act on the three fronts of prosecuting criminals responsible for trafficking human beings, protecting the victims and preventing the offences”. The Commission further intends to appoint an “Anti-Trafficking Coordinator” “to make the EU anti-trafficking policy more efficient, visible and coherent, also in relation to addressing root causes and working with third countries”. Giving the police and judicial authorities better tools. The Commission points out that, according to the International Labour Organization, some two and a half million “persons throughout the world become the victims of trafficking each year, most of them for purposes of prostitution (43%) or work (32%)”. In particular “several hundred thousand persons are victims of trafficking towards the EU or within the Union itself”. The Commission’s proposal “would increase consistency among national rules on crimes and penalties. Offenders would face charges even if they commit crimes abroad. Investigative tools used to fight organized crime should be made available to police and judicial authorities”. Victims, moreover, “would receive accommodation, medical care to help them recover and witness protection so that they are not afraid to testify against their perpetrators. They would also receive legal aid throughout the proceedings including for the purpose of claiming financial compensation”. To do more to prevent human trafficking, the proposal envisages “raising awareness of potential victims on the risks of falling prey to traffickers”.Protecting children and adolescents. The EU’s proposed new legislation aimed at obliging member states to increase penalties for those who sexually abuse children moves in the same direction (prevention, reinforcement of investigative action by the police and judicial authorities, protection of victims). The proposal also calls for the criminal prosecution of such activities as “grooming” (“befriending children with the intention of sexually abusing them”) and so-called “sex tourism”, “even if the child abuse has taken place outside the EU”. Studies in fact reveal, as the Commissioner explained, that “a percentage of children between 10% and 20% is exposed during childhood to the risk of sexual violence in Europe”. Some forms of sexual violence are on the increase. Moreover “the number of internet sites with a child pornography content is increasing and 200 new images appear on the web each day”. “Child sexual abuse – underlines Malmstrom – means children being subjected to horrendous crimes that leave deep scars for their whole lives. Child sexual exploitation means using children as sex objects and getting rich out of their suffering”. So “the response of Europe cannot be too clear or too resolute: whatever the EU can possibly do against [such crimes], the EU must do and will do”.