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Tackling Human Trafficking: Policy & Best Practice in Europe
The purpose of the conference was to consider, in the context of the Hague Programme on Strengthening Freedom, Security and Justice in the European Union, the priority areas for EU level action against trafficking. It was envisaged that these priority areas would then be feed into an EU Action Plan that all member states would sign up to.
Conference findings
Preventing Trafficking in countries of origin Reducing demand Investigating and prosecuting human trafficking Supporting victims / safe return and reintegration Enhancing co-operation: International, EU and regional best practice The conclusions from each of these breakout sessions are included in detail in the main report. Key themes to emerge included the importance of addressing root causes of trafficking, which alongside addressing issues such as gender equality included adopting policies which promoted human rights. Developing interdisciplinary models for anti-trafficking activity was considered to be important, as was full collaboration between government and civil society. Improving research and data on trafficking was highlighted as essential. The conclusions from the breakout sessions were fed back to the whole conference on the morning of the 20 October, and this prompted an involved panel discussion with a number of interventions from the floor. Delegates who contributed to the panel discussion made a variety of valuable points. It was underlined that networks within churches and other faith-based organisations were an under-utilised resource. Churches could play a valuable role, especially in the reintegration of victims in their countries of origin. They could also be effective at reaching out to people who are vulnerable to trafficking. They can build on existing interpersonal relationships and lines of communication with local communities to enable them to do this. Churches and faith-based organisations can be especially effective in reaching out to victims in areas, for example rural areas, where few forms of media may exist and possibly also where schools were not available. The conference acknowledged the need for a common definition of a victim of trafficking in human beings. One suggestion was for the European Union to adopt the definition of a victim contained in the Council of Europe Convention, which had already been signed by a number of countries. Delegates also underlined the need for a human rights based approach in EU policy and the EU-action plan. The provision of services to victims of trafficking needed to be the key element in anti-trafficking policies; this was not always the case at present. It was important to differentiate action required to support child trafficking victims from action needed to support adult victims. These two groups had very different needs. Demand reduction was an important element, but it was emphasised that demand reduction should not only be addressed through prosecution based strategies, but also through policies aimed at the prevention of trafficking. The illegal economy, which resulted from trafficking, needed to be explored in more detail. We needed to estimate the profits from the European “trade” in trafficking, and to view the power and effect this economy has on our society. A more developed co-operation between civil society, local and international NGOs, governments and EU-institutions was needed. NGOs had a huge amount of expertise on trafficking; this knowledge needed to be better utilised by governments. Co-operation between the actors must be based on trust and this necessitates economical independence. Many local and international NGOs depended on funding from EU institutions and governments from year to year. Funding was often provided only for short-term projects which made it difficult to ensure long-term service provision. Sustainable funding for the local and international NGOs was important. The funding provided to NGOs working with victims must be consistent with the level of priority being given to trafficking by the EU and member states. Funding provision at EU level needed to be coherent. Victims’ views, knowledge and participation should contribute to and be included in the development of policy on combating and preventing human trafficking. The need for reliable data with comparable analysis and statistics was underlined by several delegates. However it was noted that there were existing data sources which were not being fully exploited, for example, data held at UNICEF. It was also stressed that there is enough data to know that trafficking is a serious problem, as some delegates pointed out, “the lack of data is not an excuse for not going into action”.
Source: http://www.crimereduction.homeoffice.gov.uk/humantrafficking02.htm
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