Europe Against Trafficking in Human Beings: Conference Report
- Document number
- 1195
- Date
- 2008
- Title
- Europe Against Trafficking in Human Beings: Conference Report
- Author/publisher
- Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)
- Availability
- View/save PDF version of this document
- Document type(s)
- Meeting Documentation/Conference Reports,
- Keywords
- Palermo protocol; Definition of (trafficking), Root Causes, Risk Groups, Vulnerability, Pull factors, Push factors, Sending/Receiving countries,
- Summary
- Europe against Trafficking in Persons was organised by the ODIHR, in co-operation with the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to raise awareness about the situation of trafficking in human beings in countries of destination and to exchange good practice in the fields of prevention, prosecution and protection. By bringing together a wide variety of actors, the conference's six working group sessions also aimed to develop new recommendations for enhanced co-operation and a better legal framework to address trafficking. As a result of the working groups' expert interventions and lively discussions, a wide variety of recommendations for the legal framework, as well as for follow-up activities, were generated. The conference's preliminary report highlighted some of the most concrete recommendations including that OSCE participating States should ratify relevant international documents including the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, as well as its Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children and its Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air; United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and its Optional Protocol, which allows for individual complaints and commissions of inquiry; United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as its Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography; The Rome Statute in order to allow for the establishment of the International Criminal Court. Furthermore, provisions on human rights protection including addressing the issues of compensation and temporary residence permits, as well as anti-corruption requirements, should be incorporated into all anti-trafficking legislation. Several recommendations specifically addressed the responsibility and the potential to improve the response to trafficking in human beings in European Union (EU) member states. For instance, the timeframe for developing EU guidelines for victim protection, as defined in the European Commission "scoreboard," and as necessary to complement the EU Council Framework Decision, should be moved up from the proposed deadline of 2004. Following the EU Council Framework Decision, each EU member state should develop new legislation to identify the offence of trafficking and to ensure that the provisions on protection, as set forth in the UN protocol, are taken into consideration. Another suggestion by conference participants is that the EU Council Framework Decision should become part of the acquis communautaire and be used as a condition in negotiations with Stability Pact member states. In addition to a concrete analysis and discussion on the legal framework being developed to combat trafficking, participants committed themselves to improving the implementation of legislation and to enhancing co-operation. When exchanging good practice in the fields of prevention, prosecution and protection, it became clear that there is a serious need for better trained professionals in this field. Good practice from various countries illustrates that our efforts will only be successful if we learn to co-operate effectively – across borders and among actors who possess different skills, mandates and resources. Taking this into consideration, Ambassador Bettzuege, Head of the Permanent Mission of the Federal Republic of Germany to the OSCE, and Ambassador Stoudmann, Director of the OSCE/ODIHR, closed the conference by expressing the commitment to follow-up with similar meetings on specific topics such as legislative reform. It is necessary to continue the momentum to encourage countries of destination to acknowledge trafficking, to assist and to protect its victims, as well as to adequately punish its perpetrators. The Berlin conference was organised to raise awareness and to introduce a wide variety of diverse actors to the complexity of the trafficking issue in countries of destination. The conference succeeded in highlighting not only the contrasting and complementary approaches of different actors such as law enforcement and NGOs, but also in showcasing the multitude of responses and solutions taking place at the national level. These contrasting viewpoints and approaches, which are reflected in the following report, leave us with the challenge of exploring how we can work together more effectively in the future and with the question why successful models in some countries should not also be initiated by their neighbours.
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