Commissioner Diamantopoulou's Speech on Trafficking in Humans

Summary: September 19, 2002: Speech by Anna Diamantopoulou, Commissioner responsible for Employment and Social Affairs, on "Fighting modern slavery: The EU's role in supporting Victims of Trafficking" at the European Conference on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Human Beings (Brussels)

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is shocking that we are discussing today an issue that should have been solved with the abolition of slavery: the market in human beings.

Western Europe is at the heart of a modern-day slave trade. Up to half a million women and children are being trafficked into this region each year. They are bought and sold into forced prostitution. To domestic labor as servants. Or forced into sham 'marriages' where they are held as prisoners. Raped, and often forced to provide their so-called 'husbands' with children.

The bodies of several hundred of these women are discovered each year. Europol estimates that many are never found.

The trade is international, well organized and growing. One CIA report estimates that traffickers make up to a quarter of a million dollars with one woman trafficked and re-trafficked.

Even if they manage to escape from the trafficker, or report to the authorities, women can find themselves facing further trauma. The cruel reality is that trafficked persons may be treated as illegal migrants and criminals. And face arrest, detention or expulsion. So the victims are further victimized.

Many trafficked women fear deportation. It might seem an escape from the trafficking situation but the reality is far more complicated. Often, the victim has borrowed money to leave her country of origin. Deportation means returning home with empty hands. Debts she will never be able to pay off. Fearing that she will be ostracized by her family or her community.

Deportation means that the trafficked person is put at the mercy of the traffickers again. Trafficked people not only have to fear reprisals from their traffickers but also harassment, arrest or detention from authorities in their own countries.

But what is it that drives women into the hands of traffickers in the first place?

Of course, each woman has her own unique story to tell. I have heard some of them myself, first-hand, from trafficked women in Antwerp.

However, out of the diversity of individual experiences, certain patterns emerge: the common themes are poverty, desperation, sex discrimination and a severe lack of work opportunities in the countries of origin.

In the transition countries, the disappearance of collective farms has resulted in large numbers of unemployed women in rural areas. At the same time, many of the women affected are well educated, and know what they should be able to achieve. This frustration makes them extremely vulnerable, especially when coupled with a lack of information concerning the dangers.

Ways must be found to address the feminization of poverty in many countries of origin.

In many Eastern European countries, as in the EU, women earn just three quarters of what men earn on average. This pay gap persists despite the fact that women are just as well educated as men.

Reducing the supply of trafficked women will require measures:

to give women and men equal rights before the law;
to fight the discrimination and prejudice that deprives women of life opportunities;
to improve women's access to education and work;
and to increase the level of women's involvement in political and economic decision-making.

So how is the European Union responding to the plight of trafficked women?

As a source of demand for trafficked women, the EU has a responsibility to work together with countries of origin and transit.

It is my role to do all I can to address the gender dimension of trafficking. I believe that while there is an overall need to address all forms of trafficking, a specific policy approach is needed to address trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. With a particular emphasis on assistance and support for victims on the ground.

Women represent 70 percent of the 1.3 billion poor people in the world. It is poverty, lack of opportunities and abuse that drive women to seek a better life elsewhere. Any policy response to trafficking must aim to address these issues, at source.

If women can be allowed to stay for some time in the country where they have been exploited, it is possible to give longer-term support.

Women who are legally resident in the EU, even temporarily, can be brought within the scope of measures supported by the new EU social inclusion process, the European employment strategy and the European Social Fund.

At the same time, the EU's DAPHNE programme counters human trafficking, sexual exploitation, all forms of domestic violence and abuse, as well as violence in schools and violence against minority groups and migrants. Set up in 1997, it has already supported 150 projects run by non-governmental organisations to a total cost of 11.5 million euro.

Through this programme, the EU has funded the Italian NGO "La Strada" to encourage the prevention of trafficking of women in Central and Eastern Europe, concentrating on the Czech Republic, Poland and Ukraine.

This initiative brought the problem of trafficking to the attention of the public and the authorities. It provided legal and medical support to the victims and warned women of the dangers of this phenomenon through prevention and education campaigns.

The adoption of the EU's STOP II Programme in 2001 allowed for continued support to projects on trafficking following its first successful five year run when 85 projects to combat and prevent trafficking in human beings and the sexual exploitation of children, including child pornography, were financed. Currently eight new projects with a total co-funding of around € 750 000 are focusing on victims of trafficking.

Aside from these programmes, the EU has also funded through its 'European initiative for Democracy and Human Rights', a number of initiatives to protect and assist victims.

And under the Tacis programme, programmes are being developed or ongoing in Belarus, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine, to raise awareness of trafficking and provide assistance to victims.

Allow me to mention that an open call was launched in July this year aimed at women's organizations which assist victims of trafficking across Europe. The deadline for submitting proposals was 15 September. We intend to conclude contracts with the successful candidates before the end of this year.

In terms of legislation, the Council of the European Union last September reached a political agreement on the Commission's proposal for a Framework Decision to combat trafficking in human beings. This legal instrument contains a common definition of trafficking for the purposes of labour and sexual exploitation. The decision is to be implemented in all 15 Member States of the Union, and in the Candidate Countries.

The Commission has also put forward a legislative proposal on short-term residence permits for victims of trafficking who are prepared to co-operate in investigations and proceedings against their exploiters.

Finally, I am pleased announce that the Italian Commission on Equal Opportunities, with the support of the European Commission, will organize a Conference on Trafficking of Women in Sicily on the 5th and the 6th of December this year. To raise awareness of this issue, to highlight the action that is being taken in this field and to look at where and how we can go further.

Looking around the room today, it is reassuring to think of your strong personal commitment to fighting this modern form of slavery. I can assure you: it is a commitment I share with you. I look forward to the discussion, and to the results of your conference.

Thank you for your attention.

Ref: SP02-242EN
EU source: European Commission
UN forum:
Date: 19/9/2002

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