La Strada Documentation Center

Contribution to the Draft Report of the European Expert Group on Trafficking in Human Beings

Document number
1050
Date
2004
Title
Contribution to the Draft Report of the European Expert Group on Trafficking in Human Beings
Author/publisher
European Women’s Lobby (EWL)
Availability
View/save PDF version of this document
Document type(s)
Guidelines/Recommendations, Research/Study/Analysis,
Keywords
Return; Law enforcement; Anti-corruption strategies; Money laundering; Seizure of assets; Restitution; Compensation, Remuneration; Awareness raising; Social inclusion; Protection; Reflection period; Residence permit; Witness protection; Individual complaint mechanisms; Data collection: National Rapporteurs; Data exchange; Human rights approach, Root causes, Sexual exploitation, Labour exploitation, Definition (of trafficking); Holistic approach, Integrated approach; Migration, European Union, Justice and Home Affairs, Prevention, Protection, Prosecution, Vulnerability, Migration policy; Economic migration; Migrant rights; Free movement, National Referral Mechanisms; European Anti-Trafficking Network;
Summary
According to Article 3(3) of Commission Decision of 25 March 2003 setting up a consultative group, to be known as the "Experts Group on Trafficking in Human Beings", the Group shall submit a report to the Commission in order to assist the latter with a view to launching further concrete proposals at European level. The Commission intends to issue a communication on trafficking in human beings in 2005. Against this background the draft report of the Experts Group was discussed with interested governments, organisations and stakeholders at a workshop organised by the Commission on 26 October 2004: EWL has taken note of the Report of the Expert Group on Trafficking and supports most of the recommendations of the report, namely those that call: To place Human rights at the centre of further developments and measures against trafficking in human beings; The need for a holistic and integrated approach; The provision of assistance and protection for all victims of trafficking; The refusal to consider victims as illegal immigrants and the need to promote a gender sensitive immigration policy at the EU level. However, the EWL has serious concerns about some aspects of the report. The main critics concern 1) the partial use/misuse of the UN Protocol definition of trafficking, which, as the report states, “contains a worldwide recognised definition”; 2) the lack of prevention analysis and recommendations. EU Commission documentation centre on trafficking in human beings: http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/doc_centre/crime/trafficking/doc_crime_human_trafficking_en.htm
Related documents