Magazine / Politics / Human Trafficking / Article | 11/06/2008

Justice and injustice

"Trafficking in human beings is prohibited,” says Article 5, Paragraph 3 of the new Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. But what legal instruments does the EU actually have to prevent trafficking in human beings?

The European Union realized it had a problem in the early 1990s when increasing numbers of victims of human trafficking began arriving from Central and Eastern Europe.
The first legally binding instrument for combating trafficking in human beings was the EU Council Framework Decision adopted in 2002.

Photo: AP

The agreement aimed to bring into line the legal provisions of its member states and obliged them to make trafficking in human beings a punishable offence. Et provisions also included trafficking in human beings for the purpose of labour exploitation

Directive on protection of victims

The Framework Decision was followed in 2004 by a directive of the EU Council of Ministers on granting a limited right of abode to victims of person trafficking, also known as the victim protection directive. This directive provides for victims of trafficking to be granted the right of abode for the duration of the legal proceedings if they are prepared to co-operate with the criminal investigation authorities. Once the proceedings no longer require the person to be present, his right of abode ends. If victims do not wish to co-operate with the authorities or give testimony – because they have been traumatised, for instance – they must leave the country after being given time to reconsider.

Differing standards

Some European countries have already set a good example. In Italy, for instance, protection of the victims has priority over deportation. Women who have been bought for the purpose of sexual exploitation are given accommodation. Even if they initially do not want to co-operate with the authorities, they are given the right of abode for six months. If they then attend an integration course they can stay for a further six months. If within this year they succeed in finding a job then they have no trouble getting a work permit and are hence granted a residence permit as well. In Belgium, Sweden, and the Netherlands special investigators appointed to combat human trafficking process information gathered all over the country, but they are the only states to do this.

Violations of human rights

In Europe trafficking in human beings is regarded almost exclusively as a problem of illegal migration. But while there is a close link between the two phenomena, there are major differences as well. Trafficking in human beings always constitutes a grave violation of human rights. It violates human dignity, the right to respect for physical integrity, the right to liberty and security of person and sometimes even the right to life.

A desperate situation

In order to better protect human rights, victims of trafficking would need to be granted the right of abode regardless of whether or not they are willing to co-operate with the authorities. For after being deported back to their country of origin, victims are sometimes subjected to threats by those responsible for selling them. Women are often stigmatised by society as prostitutes. The desperate situation that they hoped escape from by going abroad is even worse when they return. As the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the Moldavian NGO La Strada repeatedly emphasise, there is a danger these people will once again become victims of human trafficking.

What is the Council of Europe doing about it?

Unlike the legal instruments of the EU, the Convention adopted in 2005 by the Council of Europe, a supranational organisation, which came into force on 1 February 2008 and focuses on the interests of the victims. It recommends granting the right of abode even to those not prepared to give testimony before a court. In addition it obliges the states that are parties to the Convention to offer the victims support in recovering physically and mentally from their experience and in reintegrating.

International cooperation

As an international problem trafficking in human beings must be combated above all through international co-operation. The European Commission works closely with international organisations like the UN, the Council of Europe, the OSCE and the G8 states. In addition the European Union and its EU member states are signatories to the UN protocol against transnational organised crime and to the additional protocol against trafficking in human beings. In 2007 the EU introduced a "Day against [Drug Abuse] and Illicit Trafficking,” which the director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, termed "an important step.” But he remained critical, saying progress in Europe had been too slow and that the UN protocol ought to be implemented in more European countries. "Many countries sign the international agreement, but then they say: Well, this is about prostitution, and prostitution is as old as the human race, so why should we intervene?”

Judith Lehnert

Judith Lehnert was born in Berlin in 1984. She studies physics at the Humboldt University in Berlin.
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Annette Parys

Annette Parys was born in Stuttgart in 1983. She began studying law in 2003, first in Heidelberg, and then in St. Petersburg and Berlin. Her ...
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Further articles on the subject » International Relations, » EU Enlargement / Neighbourhood Policy, » Domestic Policy, » Migration, » Integration, » Crime and Law, » Europe
More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » EU Enlargement / Neighbourhood Policy, » Domestic Policy, » Migration, » Integration, » Crime and Law, » Europe