a. establishing bilateral agreements between destination countries and the countries of origin of victims, which should cover legal and police co-operation and humanitarian aspects, including preventive and information campaigns, training programmes and assistance programmes for the rehabilitation of victims;
b. creating special polices service and to sensibilise them to fight against trafficking and forced prostitution. Such services should have direct contacts with Interpol and Europol in order to ensure information exchange on traffickers networks and efficient collaboration in the detention of criminals;
c. encouraging constant cooperation and interaction between non-governmental organisations and consulates and police services responsible for the fight against trafficking;
d. setting up in close co-operation with the countries of origin prevention programmes focusing in particular on the deep-seated causes of trafficking in women, namely inequality between women and men in the labour market, in education and in access to certain professions; the feminisation of poverty, violence against women;
e. launching large information and awareness raising campaign addressed to all professionals who by the very nature of their work could be in contact with the victims and the traffickers. These campaigns should address officials of ministries especially concerned with the problem of trafficking, customs and police services, diplomatic representatives, public authorities, the media and humanitarian non-governmental organisations;
f. launching sex education programmes in schools, with particular emphasis on equality between women and men and on respect of rights of humain beeings and individual dignity. School curricula should include information on the risks of exploitation, sexual abuse and trafficking. Teachers should be trained in such a way as to incorporate a gender dimension into their teaching and to avoid gender stereotypes;
g. encouraging mass media to cover the work of non-governmental organisations, police services and parliamentary assemblies in fighting trafficking;
h. carring out permanent monitoring of advertisement in order to detect hidden information about networks of illegal transportation of human beings, illegal employment and developing effective mechanisms of responsibility for such a kind of advertisement;
viii. to adopt the following measures regarding victims of trafficking:
a. giving specific protection to victims;
b. setting up shelters for trafficking victims modelled on those already functioning in Italy, Belgium and Austria;
c. establishing telephone-hotlines in capitals and in different regions of each country providing information to potential trafficking victims and their families and assisting persons who have fallen victims to trafficking ;
d. introducing a right to compensation, insertion and rehabilitation for victims and setting up a support body to help their voluntary return to their countries of origin ;
e. taking all necessary measures to protect victims and witnesses, wishing to testify, and assuring protection for their families in the countries of origin;
f. increasing the state financing of the social services specialised in the assistance to the victims of trafficking and prostitution;
g. granting victims of trafficking a temporary and renewable resident permit on humanitarian grounds;
h. creating information and consulting services in embassies and consulates of the countries of origin, where women, who are leaving for abroad could receive necessary information and addresses of embassies and non-governmental organisations in the countries of destination providing assistance to women victims of trafficking;
ix. to introduce effective punishment of traffickers by:
a. prosecuting nationals for offences committed abroad and establishing rules governing extra-territorial jurisdiction, irrespective of the country where the offences were committed, and including cases where the offences took place in more than one country ;
b. introducing penal sanctions for clients of victims of sexual exploitation ;
c. making the punishment of traffickers at least similar to those for traffickers in drugs and weapons;
d. including in penalties the seizure and confiscation of the sizeable earnings traffickers make and the closure of establishments in which victims are exploited. A part of confiscated profits should be allotted to insertion and rehabilitation centres for victims and shelters (offenders should pay compensation to the victims of trafficking).
11. The Assembly recommends that the Committee of Ministers:
i. create a European observatory on trafficking in order to
a. take the necessary measures to launch information and awareness raising campaign against trafficking in women in all the member countries ;
b. establish an international network of experts on trafficking in women to facilitate the exchange of information and expertise;
c. study the effects of using new information technologies in trafficking of women as well as their impact on the victims of trafficking ;
d. conduct in co-operation with other international organisations systematic research into trafficking in women;
ii. draft a convention on traffic in women, which would focus on the protection of victims by obliging member states to provide for the physical safety of trafficking victims within their territory, granting them special residence permits on humanitarian grounds and ensuring their physical and psychological recovery. A non-discrimination clause, which is a fundamental rule of international law as provided for by Article 14 of the European Convention of Human Rights and by Protocol 12 to this Convention, should be included as one of the main provisions of the future convention;
iii. implement Recommendation n° R (2000)11 on trafficking in human beings for the purpose of sexual exploitation and transmit it to the Commissioner on Human Rights and to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT).
II. Explanatory memorandum by Mrs Err
Introduction
1. Trafficking in women and children is a cruel expression of modern slavery. Slavery which consists of the selling of people – in the most acute cases with the purpose of prostitution and pornography, but trafficking as well could be effectuated in response to the marriage demands or the demands of cheap home workers, very often working without salary and social security.
2. Although the international community has rallied to combat it, trafficking in women has increased considerably in recent years and become a flourishing branch of organised crime. The victims of this form of slavery are fated to be resold and to become the merchandise in the flourishing European market, which generates substantial profits for international criminal organisations. It is high time to combat more efficiently this modern disaster.
3. The problem assumed dramatic proportions in Europe with the collapse of the communist regimes, which had major political, economic and social consequences for the countries of the former USSR. The opening up of frontiers, the rise in unemployment and poverty with the transition to market economy, and the disruption of governmental structures have aided the development of trafficking.
4. The conflicts of the 1990s also fuelled an upsurge in trafficking. The situation in the countries of former Yugoslavia, for example, is extremely worrying.
5. Since the fall of the Berlin wall, most of the women victims of trafficking in human beings in Europe (78%) are from central and eastern Europe1. Women from Eastern Europe are also “exported” to Israel. Lastly, women from developing countries (Africa, Asia, South America) are victims of traffic whose destination is the west.
6. The Council of Europe is regrouping the quasi majority of European countries concerned and, therefore, this organisation should become the main stronghold in the fight against this phenomenon, which violates all fundamental principles on which the Council of Europe is based.
7. The work has already started. 40 Heads of States and Governments signed the final Declaration of the Second Summit of the Council of Europe in which they affirmed their determination to combat violence against women and all forms of sexual exploitation of women.
8. The European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (1950) and its protocols together with the European Social Charter (1961) and the European Social Charter (revised) (1996) and the Additional Protocol to the European Social Charter providing for a System of Collective Complaints (1995) form the necessary basis on which the Council of Europe has developed the whole scope of its recommendations.
9. The following recommendations were adopted by the Committee of Ministers to the member states of the Council of Europe: Recommendation No. R (91) 11 on sexual exploitation, pornography and prostitution of, and trafficking in, children and young adults; Recommendation No. R (96) 8 on crime policy in Europe in a time of change; Recommendation No. R (97) 13 concerning intimidation of witnesses and the rights of the defence and the latest Recommendation No. R (2000) 11 on action against trafficking in human beings for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
10. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in its turn elaborated Recommendation 1065 (1987) on the traffic in children and other forms of child exploitation; Recommendation 1211 (1993) on clandestine migration: traffickers and employers of clandestine migrants, Resolution 1099 (1996) on the sexual exploitation of children and Recommendation 1325 (1997) on trafficking in women and forced prostitution in Council of Europe member states.
11. This report aims at turning once more the attention of all governments of the member countries of the Council of Europe to the need to react jointly to this increasingly important problem. A vast number of instruments elaborated by the different bodies of the Council of Europe prove that Europe is facing the phenomenon, which by its nature is difficult to combat. The fact that the European Deputy, Mrs Patsy Sörensen also presented the report “For further actions in the fight against trafficking in women” which gave main guidelines for further actions by the European Union institutions is another confirmation of the sad evidence that trafficking inhuman beings persists in Europe.
I. Victims of trafficking
12. Women and children are the most vulnerable members of society because of the various forms of social, cultural, economic and political discrimination of which they are victim.
13. Women are the first to be affected by poverty and an unfavourable economic situation.
14. Over the past ten years, the number of women living in poverty has increased more rapidly than that of men, particularly in the developing countries.
15. Family break-up, population movements between urban areas and rural areas within countries, international migration, wars and internal displacements of population are all factors contributing to the rising number of households headed by women.
16. Women’s poverty is directly linked to a lack of political, social and economic prospects and independence, to the fact that they have no access to economic resources – loans, property ownership, inheritances, etc – or education, and to the fact that they play very little part in decision-making.
17. Women in the countries of central and Eastern Europe have been particularly affected by rising unemployment and poverty with the transition there to a market economy.
18. The emigration of women who have become heads of families and who wish to find paid or better paid work is increasing substantially.
19. Such migration is encouraged – directly or indirectly – by the authorities of certain countries, since it generates significant income for them, facilitates the inflow of foreign currency and, lastly, relieves the pressure on the national labour market2.
20. Many of immigrant women are working as domestic workers in the conditions contrary to human dignity: without any real financial reward, deprived of liberty and suffering from isolation. They became victims of domestic slavery.
21. Poverty does not automatically lead to trafficking in human beings. Trafficking in women emerges only where organised crime takes advantage of the desire to emigrate to entice women to the West under false pretences and force them to work in sectors specific to them, such as prostitution or domestic work. These informal sectors are the least protected and least regulated and therefore facilitate exploitation (undeclared work, clandestinity).
22. They are also sectors where the “labour supply” is plentiful. The attitude of some of the western male population towards women thus plays a part in the phenomenon of trafficking in women. There would be no trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation if there were no demand for “sexual services”.
23. The desire to emigrate can only very rarely be met legally, as western states have considerably reduced the opportunities for immigration.
24. These restrictions encourage the creation of networks which exploit the women’s desire to emigrate, offer to arrange their transfer to other countries and lure them by deceiving them as to their real intentions.
25. Trafficking in women, particularly in eastern Europe, is linked to organised crime, which uses it as a means for financing other criminal activities, such as arms and drugs trafficking3.
26. Organised crime has also taken advantage of the consequences of the war in former Yugoslavia: the extreme fragility of state institutions, the lack of border controls and adequate legislation, the large-scale presence of Westerners (humanitarian missions, international civil servants, armies, etc) have contributed to the growth of the traffic in human beings, particularly to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, and also in women from these regions to other European countries4. It is becoming increasingly obvious that the presence of international agencies has contributed to the creation and development not only of organised crime but also of the forced prostitution market in those countries.
II. The phenomenon of trafficking
27. Many definitions have so far been proposed, both nationally and internationally. Every such approach to trafficking entails choices.
28. Some states view trafficking in the context of the fight against organised crime, leaving aside the victims of this major form of violence against women. Others, in contrast, focus mainly on the influx of illegal immigrants and regard and treat the victims of trafficking as such (detaining and deporting them).
29. All the approaches suggested by the European Parliament, the Council of Europe, United Nations, the International Organisation for Migration, etc, are different and have different focuses and priorities.
30. Emphasis may be placed on legal or illegal migration, on the coercion or consent of the persons concerned, on labour (forced and/or unregulated) or on human rights.
31. Some definitions deal primarily with methods of recruitment (procurement) in countries of origin and others with the development of illegal immigration, while a third group of definitions includes the situation of the persons concerned when they reach the destination country.
32. Furthermore, the concepts used in several definitions are imprecise and confuse “trafficking” and “prostitution”.
33. In attempting to devise a way of dealing with trafficking, it is important to identify the ideas behind it and the choices made.
34. A recent European Parliament report calls for a specific approach to trafficking in women which goes beyond the problems of unlawful immigration5.
35. While the interests of states must be taken into consideration (immigration, foreign-currency inflows to poor countries resulting from their nationals’ emigration, combating organised crime or controlling prostitution), the interests of the victims of trafficking must be at the heart of the problem.
36. Any policy devised must make this its priority.
37. A number of features may be pinpointed in the various definitions suggested to date and in the studies carried out.
- Trafficking entails the exploitation of persons forced to prostitute themselves in conditions that reduce them to slavery. Trafficking in women for purposes of sexual exploitation is linked with forced prostitution.
- Trafficking entails the recruitment and/or legal or illegal transport of women. Trafficking may occur even in the event of legal immigration.
- Trafficking may include the transport or migration even of consenting women. Women sometimes know that they are going to work as prostitutes, but they are always unaware of the inhuman conditions in which they will be obliged to do so.
- Trafficking is characterised by the presence of coercion, which may, non-exhaustively, include violence, threats, ill-treatment, deception, abuse of authority, torture, acts of barbarity, etc. It also involves taking advantage of a situation of weakness, either that of a foreigner whose administrative situation is illegal or precarious or that of a person in hardship or distress over residence or suffering some physical of psychological disorder.
- Trafficking in women is linked to organised crime.
38. The problem is difficult to delimit particularly because of the many forms it takes and because of the lack of reliable statistics and data6. It is difficult to embrace in a definition a phenomenon which is poorly understood and extremely complex.
39. Recommendation No.R(2000)11 adopted by the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on 19 May 2000 defines trafficking in human beings for the purpose of sexual exploitation as “the procurement by one or more natural or legal persons and/or the organisation of the exploitation and/or transport or migration – legal or illegal – of persons, even with their consent, for the purpose of their sexual exploitation, inter alia by means of coercion, in particular violence or threats, deceit, abuse of authority or of a position of vulnerability”.
40. Lack of an agreed definition of trafficking is a major obstacle to combating it. The importance of a harmonised definition has been stressed in every recent report by international organisations. It is important to determine the objective to be attained and to define clearly the scope of action to ensure the effectiveness7 of the measures taken to combat this scourge.
41. The problem needs to be approached from the angle of the victims’ interests: the aim of combating trafficking must be to prevent and put a stop to the exploitation and slavery to which women are reduced, women whom organised crime regards as no more than particularly profitable merchandise.
42. Finally, the definition of trafficking which will ultimately be adopted must not be confused with the definitions of the types of behaviour associated with such trafficking and which states are called upon to make criminal offences.
III. Trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation: a contemporary form of slavery
43. The exploitation of women is the central feature of this problem and justifies its being regarded as a contemporary form of slavery. The fundamental rights of the victims of trafficking are violated. The conditions in which they are forced to work are akin to those of slavery.
44. The Statute of the International Criminal Court classes the reduction to slavery, particularly of women and children in international trafficking in human beings, as a crime against humanity.
45. Whether the women concerned have migrated of their own volition or have been kidnapped, they will fall prey to traffickers.
46. Most of the victims are deceived as to the activities they will engage in: to recruit them, glittering pictures are painted of well-paid employment as waitresses, dancers, etc. While some victims make conscious use of networks in order to emigrate to the West, sometimes even with a view to engaging in prostitution, none of them can imagine the abominable conditions in which they will be obliged to do so. They would never consent to emigrate if they knew the realities of the exploitation awaiting them.
47. Women who have entered destination countries by their own means can also fall victim to these networks, which take advantage of the very vulnerable situation in which the women find themselves (isolation, lack of protection, unlawful residence, etc).
48. In any event, the traffickers see to it that the women are kept in a very vulnerable situation – by taking them to countries where they will be regarded as foreigners, the traffickers create ideal conditions in which to exploit them: ignorance of the language of the destination country, of its laws, of its culture and policing, etc. Once the women have arrived in the destination country, the traffickers confiscate their identity papers.
49. Victims of trafficking have reported being transported in groups via several intermediaries (and sometimes several countries) before reaching their destination. During the journey, the women generally did not know where they were or where they were going. On the way, they were sometimes confined illegally in transit countries and obliged to engage in prostitution.
50. The women are either sold on to other criminals or exploited by the very ones who organised their recruitment or transport. In this way medium-ranking criminal organisations keep the women under their control and place them in their own clubs or brothels. They keep the women under close surveillance, force them to sign formal acknowledgments of debts and require them to hand over a large percentage, if not the whole, of their earnings from prostitution.
51. “Conditioning” or “training” camps exist in Albania, Italy and some countries of former Yugoslavia.
52. In them the worst forms of sexual, physical and psychological violence are inflicted on some women in order to reduce them to a state of total dependence on their traffickers. They are threatened in various ways, including their families’ being told that they have become prostitutes (in some cases photographs of women being raped have been taken for this purpose). Pressure is sometimes brought to bear on their families. The victims may be confined illegally, beaten, raped, tortured, drugged, undernourished and punished if they do not submit to the organisation’s demands (there are cases of abortions carried out without the woman’s consent, of their babies being taken away from them and placed with childminders, etc). These women therefore live in a state of constant terror.
53. They may be deprived of their freedom and kept under close surveillance in brothels where they are forced to work for hours on end.
54. The victims have to hand over their earnings to the traffickers.
55. Reprisals are taken against some who refuse to co-operate, ranging from a “simple financial penalty” to being sent to “training camps in Italy where they must accept 50 to 60 clients per day8”, to being murdered.
56. The victims have to accept what other prostitutes would refuse, particularly unprotected sex (which poses a public health risk).
57. Some traffickers take advantage of the Schengen area and its inconsistent legislations to move their victims from one country to another. It is very easy for them to cross a border if one country’s policy becomes more repressive, and all the easier because the majority of women victims are now from central and eastern Europe and therefore attract less attention than women from Asia or Africa.
58. Once being captured by the networks of traffickers it is very difficult for women to liberate themselves. Trafficking in human beings is activity closely pursued by the actors of organised crime. Catalogue marriages and sexual tourism are very closely linked to those structures.
59. Few networks are dismantled, and this type of crime, though extremely serious, goes unpunished for several reasons. We will focus on three of them in particular.
60. The first has to do with the victims themselves and their high degree of vulnerability: they are alone and terrorised, in a country they do not know or know only slightly and whose language they cannot understand, and, having no papers, they are afraid of being merely regarded as illegal immigrants if they turn to the authorities. Furthermore, they dare not complain or bring evidence, for fear of reprisals against themselves and their families.
61. The second has to do with the destination countries themselves and the lack in some cases of appropriate legislation and provision for receiving and supporting victims, who are often treated as illegal immigrants and, as such, deported after varying periods of detention. The political will to put an end to this trafficking is often lacking, whereas it ought to be a priority in states’ crime policies. Furthermore, arrangements for protecting witnesses are lacking.
62. The third reason has to do with the permeability of borders, which makes it easier for traffickers to move around. The networks are increasingly well organised. They have connections in countries of origin and destination, which makes it possible for them to keep the women in prostitution, and in other countries too, which enables them to move rapidly whenever there is any threat from the police9.
IV. The work of the Council of Europe in combating trafficking
63. Since the late 1980s the Council of Europe has started to be involved in the fight against trafficking through different actions launched by its Steering Committee for Equality between Women and Men (CDEG).
64. The CDEG organised study and research activities, including the seminars and the setting up of a Group of Experts on action against traffic in women and forced prostitution (1992-1993).
65. A major part of the work of the Committee in this field is concentrated on the awareness raising activities. An international seminar on action against traffic in human beings for the purpose of sexual exploitation: the role of non-governmental organisations was organised in Strasbourg in June 1998, calling in its conclusions for joint and concerted actions, and in particular co-operation between the non-governmental organisations of different countries. A workshop on “good” and “bad” practices regarding the image of women in the media: the case of trafficking in human beings for the purpose of sexual exploitation was held in Strasbourg in September 1998.
66. The CDEG conducted several seminars in the countries of origin of the victims of trafficking (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Ukraine) with the aim to alert the different actors (police, judges, social workers, embassy staff, teachers) to their role vis-à vis the victims of trafficking and to the dangers faced by certain persons.
67. In co-operation with the UNHCR, OSCE and OIM the Council of Europe organised an international seminar on “Co-ordinated action against trafficking in human beings in South-Eastern Europe: towards a regional action plan” which took place in Athens in June 2000 in the framework of the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe. The recommendations adopted by the participants of this seminar envisage launching of National Action Plans against trafficking.
68. The CDEG has also prepared a compilation of the main legal texts dealing with trafficking at international, regional and national levels.
69. In 1997 in the report and Recommendation 1325 on traffic in women and forced prostitution in the Council of Europe member states (Rapporteur: Mrs Wohlwend) the Assembly called all member countries for urgent actions to fight the trafficking and recommended the Committee of Ministers to elaborate a convention on traffic in women and forced prostitution.
70. In response to the Assembly Recommendation 1325, the Committee of Ministers created a Multisectoral Group on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings for the purpose of Sexual Exploitation (EG-S-TS). It also decided to draft a recommendation as a first step before the elaboration of a convention.
71. As a result on 19 May 2000 the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted a Recommendation No. R (2000) 11 inviting the member governments to “establish a pan-European strategy to combat this phenomenon and protect victims, while ensuring that the relevant legislation of the Council of Europe’s member states is harmonised and uniformly and effectively applied”10.
72. Reference may usefully be made to the appendix to this recommendation, which sets out a number of measures based on the idea that the women concerned should be treated as victims and not as illegal immigrants. These measures cover a wide range of questions around this problem: prevention; assistance to and protection of victims; penal sanctions and legal co-operation; the mechanisms of fight against trafficking on the national and international level.
73. The implementation of this strategy will require international co-ordination in order to facilitate co-operation and the mutual exchange of information between different countries. Therefore, the establishment of an international body to co-ordinate the fight against trafficking should be considered as a priority task for the international community. This body will also facilitate the preparation of the future convention on trafficking in human beings as a finalising step of the implementation of European strategy.
V. Measures to be adopted to combat trafficking in women
74. Not all European countries have special provisions in their legislation prohibiting trafficking in human beings. The differences in the legal systems of the countries of origin, transit and destination make possible for criminals to create their networks of trafficking without fear to be punished. It is urgently needed to adopt or strengthen existing legislation and enforcement mechanisms to punish trafficking perpetrators and to elaborate a European convention defining trafficking as a violation of human rights and stipulating harmonisation of European legislation against trafficking.
75. The effectiveness and assessment of the measures needed to combat trafficking in human beings require a detailed knowledge of the problem. The establishment of a database making it possible to apprehend the problem.
76. Such a database would cover the various aspects of the problem, especially the origins of the traffic and the methods used by traffickers, in particular to recruit women, and include surveys of countries of origin and the specific features of trafficking found in them. Systematic research into trafficking should be conducted by the Council of Europe in the co-operation with other international organisations.
77. The development of the new information technologies has added a further dimension to the phenomenon of trafficking. The Internet offers unprecedented opportunities and the traffickers have been quick to seize them. Trafficking in human beings is now often effected in the form of the job offers or under the cover of marriage bureaux by e-mail, the sale of pornographic material and prostitution services. The Council of Europe should urgently undertake the study of these phenomena in view of the speed at which they are developing.
78. Large information and awareness raising campaign should be launched for all professional who by the nature of their work could be in contact with traffickers of the victims of trafficking. In the countries of origin and destination these campaigns should address customs and police services, diplomatic representatives, public authorities, the media and humanitarian non-governmental organisations.
79. Sex education programmes should be introduced in schools, with particular emphasis on equality between women and men and on respect for human rights and individual dignity. School curricula should include information on the risks of exploitation, sexual abuse and trafficking. Teachers should be trained in such a way as to incorporate a gender dimension into their teaching and to avoid gender stereotypes.
80. It is vitally important to increase the State financing of the social services specialised in the assistance to the victims of trafficking and prostitution.
81. Specific police services should be created in every country to fight against trafficking and forced prostitution, Such services should have direct contacts with Interpol and Europol in order to ensure information exchange on traffickers networks and efficient collaboration in the detention of criminals.
82. European embassies should be sensible to the problem of trafficking and should apply all measures to prevent the spreading of this crime. They should also accord necessary assistance to the victims who want to return to their countries of origin.
5.1 In destination countries: effective law enforcement
83. Trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation is an aspect of international crime requiring co-ordinated action geared to the actual situation both within states and internationally.
84. Prosecutions must therefore be launched where they have the greatest chance of succeeding (evidence, witnesses, victims, places where exploitation occurs, etc). It is in destination and transit countries that the state of slavery is easiest to prove and is the most obvious.
85. Destination countries therefore need to place the emphasis on law enforcement and the fight against organised crime, which is responsible for trafficking in women.
86. States should make forms of sexual exploitation characteristic of trafficking in women (forced prostitution and/or provision of sexual services involving any measure of coercion) specific offences. The aim here is not to combat prostitution as such but forced prostitution.
87. Penalties should be appropriate. They should be substantial and proportional to the seriousness of a crime which treats women as merchandise and is thus an unspeakable violation of human dignity. At the present time, such trafficking is punished less severely than trafficking in drugs or weapons.
88. Appropriate penalties would include the seizure and confiscation of the sizeable earnings traffickers make and closure of establishments in which victims are exploited. A part of confiscated profits should be allotted to rehabilitation centres for victims and shelters. Offenders should pay compensation to the victims of trafficking.
89. The traffic in women has developed because there is a demand for sexual services. For this reason to be a client of forced prostitution should be made a criminal offence. It may be noted in this connection that Sweden has just voted a law punishing the client of both forced and voluntary prostitution. Making all prostitution an offence in this way may, however, push prostitutes into clandestinity and thereby increase their exploitation.
90. Bilateral or multilateral agreements should also be negotiated whereby the “exporting” and destination countries co-operate in prosecutions (communication of evidence such as records, deportation, complaints, statements in evidence, etc). States ought to agree to extradite any of their nationals who are prosecuted for involvement in trafficking of this kind.
91. Furthermore, arrangements need to be made to look after and support the victims and give them the opportunity to lodge complaints and give evidence, in particular by permitting them to stay in the destination country and guaranteeing their safety.
92. To shield victims from the direct threat of reprisals and reinforce measures taken to prosecute traffickers, it should be made possible for non-governmental organisations and voluntary associations which defend victims of trafficking to take legal action against traffickers either in conjunction with the victims or in their place with the aim of obtaining damages.
93. Special arrangements also need to be made for interviewing victims and receiving complaints.
94. Bearing in mind the extreme suffering they have endured victims should be given medical, psychological and social assistance in reception centres.
5.2 In countries of origin: effective prevention programmes
95. Information and prevention programmes highlighting the damage of trafficking and taking into account the specific cultural and other characteristics of each country should be introduced in countries of origin. The role of media is very important in this respect as the media can help to change the mentalities and can also make pressure on Parliaments and Governments in order to change the legislation and to oblige the police to help the victims of trafficking.
96. We know that some prevention programmes introduced in countries of origin failed because the victims were recruited by people whom they trusted (friends, acquaintances, etc). This fact could henceforth be borne in mind so as to ensure that information campaigns targeted at women in countries of origin are effective11.
97. Bilateral agreements should be established with the countries of origin of victims, which should cover the legal and police collaboration and humanitarian aspects, including preventive and information campaigns, training programmes and the assistance programmes for the rehabilitation of victims.
98. A specialised State service to combat trafficking in human beings should be established in each country touched by this problem. This service should elaborate and implement the national plan of actions against trafficking taking into account the specificities of situation in each country.
99. State authorities should monitor tourist agencies, marriage and adoption bureaux to ensure that they are not involved in activities connecting to trafficking of people. Special attention should be paid by the embassies of destination countries issuing group visas to different organisations.
100. Trafficking hotlines in capitals and in different regions of each country providing information to potential trafficking victims and their families and assisting persons who have fallen victims of trafficking should be established. Such hotlines will provide a good opportunity for raising awareness on the regional level for the trafficking problem.
101. The success in the fight against trafficking depends on the close co-operation between state authorities, non-governmental organisations and public organisations.
Conclusions
102. Trafficking in women is in fact a matter of equality, of the right to human dignity and the question of power. Globally speaking, it is a matter of society. Sexual exploitation reflects as a magnifying mirror the reality of relationship between men and women, which is based on the assumption of the superiority of man. This situation implies naturally the question of power between sexes, but not only the power. It had direct link to culture, or rather the absence of culture, which always prevails in our human relationship. The fact that the sexual exploitation is still possible shows clearly that modern society is further away from the society of equality in which all members without exception profit entirely from their fundamental rights.
103. Prostitution and trafficking of human beings are incompatible with the dignity and value of a person. It is also one of the most flourishing and least punished branches of organised crime. Therefore, all necessary legal measures should be taken to combat this phenomenon. The Swedish Law against violence against women is a good example.
104. It should be treated with at least the same vigilance as trafficking in drugs and weapons.
105. The traffic in human beings requires the development, at international level, of resources for tackling every aspect of the phenomenon and, at national level, of solutions suited to the specific characteristics of the various states.
106. Trafficking in human beings should meet the same opposition in society as it has demonstrated towards racism and slavery, tortures and discrimination. Member countries are called to combat all forms of trafficking applying all instruments at their disposal found in national and international law.
*
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Reporting committee: Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men
Reference to committee: Doc. 7868 and Reference No. 2293 of 26 May 1998, Doc. 8405 and Reference No. 2388 of 26 May 1999.
Draft recommendation unanimously adopted by the committee on 6 September 2001.
Members of the committee: Mrs Err (Chairperson), Mrs Aguiar (1st Vice-Chairperson), Mrs Keltosova (3rd Vice-Chairperson), Mrs Auken, Mrs Biga-Friganovic, Mrs Castro (Mrs Lopez Gonzalez), Mrs Cryer (Mr Etherington), Mrs Dade, Mrs Dromberg, Mrs Druziuk, Ms Faldet, Mrs Freitag, Mrs Freyberg, Mrs Frimannsdóttir, Mrs Gatterer, Mrs Granlund, Ms Gülek, Ms Hadjiyeva, Ms Herczog, Mrs Hornikova, Mrs Jones, Mr Juri, Mrs Katseli, Mrs Kestelijn-Sierens, Mr Kiely, Mrs Lakhova, Mrs Mikutiene, Mr Neuwirth, Mr Olteanu (Mrs Cliveti), Mrs Paegle, Mrs Patarkalishvili, Ms Patereu, Ms Pericleous-Papadopoulos, Mr Popovski, Mrs Poptodorova, Mrs Pozza Tasca, Mr Pullicino Orlando, Mr Riccardi, Mrs Roudy, Mrs Rupprecht, Mrs Serafini (Mr Risari), Mr Volodin, Mrs Zapfl-Helbling, Mrs Zwerver.
N.B. The names of the members who took part in the meeting are printed in italics.
Secretaries of the committee: Mrs Nollinger, Ms Kostenko.
