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Presidency Conclusions, Tampere European Council

Document number
1072
Date
1999
Title
Presidency Conclusions, Tampere European Council
Author/publisher
Council of the European Union, European Union
Availability
View/save PDF version of this document
Document type(s)
EU law, Meeting Documentation/Conference Reports,
Keywords
Justice and Home Affairs, European Union, Law enforcement, Palermo protocol, Vienna Action Plan, Tempere, United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime, Amsterdam Treaty, Labour exploitation, Sexual exploitation,
Summary
A special meeting of the European Council held at Tampere, Finland, in October 1999, was dedicated to the establishment of an Area of Freedom, Security and Justice and elaborated the political guidelines for the next years, including in the field of immigration. The following excerpts are relevant to the field of trafficking: 22. The European Council stresses the need for more efficient management of migration flows at all their stages. It calls for the development, in close co-operation with countries of origin and transit, of information campaigns on the actual possibilities for legal immigration, and for the prevention of all forms of trafficking in human beings. A common active policy on visas and false documents should be further developed, including closer co-operation between EU consulates in third countries and, where necessary, the establishment of common EU visa issuing offices. 23. The European Council is determined to tackle at its source illegal immigration, especially by combating those who engage in trafficking in human beings and economic exploitation of migrants. It urges the adoption of legislation foreseeing severe sanctions against this serious crime. The Council is invited to adopt by the end of 2000, on the basis of a proposal by the Commission, legislation to this end. Member States, together with Europol, should direct their efforts to detecting and dismantling the criminal networks involved. The rights of the victims of such activities shall be secured with special emphasis on the problems of women and children. 26. The European Council calls for assistance to countries of origin and transit to be developed in order to promote voluntary return as well as to help the authorities of those countries to strengthen their ability to combat effectively trafficking in human beings and to cope with their readmission obligations towards the Union and the Member States. 48. Without prejudice to the broader areas envisaged in the Treaty of Amsterdam and in the Vienna Action Plan, the European Council considers that, with regard to national criminal law, efforts to agree on common definitions, incriminations and sanctions should be focused in the first instance on a limited number of sectors of particular relevance, such as financial crime (money laundering, corruption, Euro counterfeiting), drugs trafficking, trafficking in human beings, particularly exploitation of women, sexual exploitation of children, high tech crime and environmental crime.
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