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Recommendation 1325 (1997)
Traffic in women and forced prostitution in Council of Europe member states
1. The Assembly is alarmed by the dramatic
increase in recent years in the traffic in women and forced prostitution in
Council of Europe member states. It is worried by the increasing involvement of
organised criminal groups in these lucrative crimes, which these groups use as
a basis for financing and expanding their other activities, such as drugs and
arms trafficking and money laundering. The Assembly is also concerned about the
deterioration of the treatment of trafficked women, bordering on slavery, which
has resulted from this development.
2. The Assembly defines traffic in
women and forced prostitution as any legal or illegal transporting of women
and/or trade in them, with or without their initial consent, for economic gain,
with the purpose of subsequent forced prostitution, forced marriage, or other
forms of forced sexual exploitation. The use of force may be physical, sexual
and/or psychological, and includes intimidation, rape, abuse of authority or a
situation of dependence.
3. Considering traffic in women and forced
prostitution thus defined to be a form of inhuman and degrading treatment and a
flagrant violation of human rights, the Assembly feels the need for urgent and
concerted action on the part of the Council of Europe, its individual member
states and other international organisations. In this framework, it welcomes
the adoption on 29 November 1996 of a joint action programme by the European
Union in this field, which, however, does not provide any binding
recommendations. The Council of Europe, as a pan-European organisation with a
clear human rights mandate grouping both countries of origin and countries of
destination of trafficked women, is ideally placed to take the lead in
combatting traffic in women and forced prostitution, and should do so without
further delay.
4. The Assembly recommends that the Committee of
Ministers elaborate a convention on traffic in women and forced prostitution,
which would also be open for signature by states not members of the Council of
Europe. The scope of the convention should be limited to adult women, and based
on the Assembly’s definition in paragraph 2 above. It should focus on human
rights, stipulating repressive measures to combat trafficking through
harmonisation of laws especially in the penal field, opening new channels for
improved police and judicial communication, co-ordination and co-operation, and
organising a certain degree of assistance and protection for victims of
trafficking, especially those willing to testify in court. This should also
include physical protection if necessary, and in any case the granting of
temporary residence permits as well as legal, medical and psychological
assistance. The convention should establish a control-mechanism to monitor
compliance with its provisions and to co-ordinate further action at the
pan-European level to combat trafficking in women and forced prostitution. The
Committee of Ministers is asked to submit the draft convention to the Assembly
for opinion before its adoption.
5. Aware of the complexity of the
problems inherent in the elaboration of a convention, and concerned by the long
duration of this process, the Assembly proposes, as a provisional measure, the
adoption by the Committee of Ministers of a recommendation dealing specifically
with the problem of traffic in women and forced prostitution and specifying
measures to be taken by member states in order to prevent this scourge.
6. The Assembly further recommends that the Committee of Ministers urges
member states to :
6.1. introduce special measures
to increase awareness of this problem among the general public, and,
particularly target groups of traffickers’ potential victims, through, for
example, information provided by the staff of consulates and embassies dealing
with requests for visas and work permits;
6.2. introduce
training of immigration staff, in particular in consulates delivering visas and
at border points, in order to ensure that such staff are fully aware of the
problem, are provided with up to date information on trafficking methods and
trends, and are trained to recognise potential victims;
6.3. create specific police structures on the national level to combat
traffic in women and forced prostitution, and improve international
communication, co-ordination and co-operation of police bodies via Interpol and
Europol, but also on the basis of both bilateral and multilateral
contacts;
6.4. make provisions to enable the seizure and
confiscation of profits from offences related to traffic in women and forced
prostitution, as well as the closure of establishments in which victims of
traffic are sexually exploited;
6.5. grant residence permits to
victims of traffic and forced prostitution who are willing to testify in court,
and include them in witness protection programmes if necessary;
6.6. organise legal, medical and psychological assistance for victims of
traffic and forced prostitution, especially those willing to testify in
court;
6.7. consider introducing special rules in criminal
proceedings on the use of force for victims of traffic and forced prostitution,
imposing heavier sentences for trafficking in women and forcing them into
prostitution, as well as making it a crime to knowingly use the services of a
woman forced into prostitution or marriage;
6.8. for states
which do not extradite their nationals for offences committed abroad, consider
making it possible to prosecute nationals in their home country for acts of
trafficking committed abroad, whether or not there has been a complaint from
the country in which the crime was committed;
6.9. help the
women who are victims of traffic to reintegrate into the society of their
country of origin upon their return;
6.10. grant the various NGOs
and associations for victims of prostitution access to courts in order to
increase the effectiveness of action against trafficking and enforced
prostitution;
6.11. make free telephone help-lines for women
victims widely available;
6.12. support the setting up of
reception centres and increased temporary accommodation for victims, and grant
victims the minimum rate of social assistance and access to health care during
their stay.