La Strada Documentation Center

Opinion of the Expert Group on Trafficking in Human Beings of the European Commission In Connection with the World Football Cup 2006 in Germany and the Related Assumption of Increased Trafficking Activities around this Event

Document number
1350
Date
2006
Title
Opinion of the Expert Group on Trafficking in Human Beings of the European Commission In Connection with the World Football Cup 2006 in Germany and the Related Assumption of Increased Trafficking Activities around this Event
Author/publisher
Experts Group on Trafficking in Human Beings, European Commission, European Union (EU)
Availability
View/save PDF version of this document
Document type(s)
EU law,
Keywords
Football, Sport, Demand, Media, Prevention campaigns,
Summary
The Experts Group sees the World Football Cup as a specific moment in time with an increased international attention towards trafficking in human beings, which in its complexity and structural causes will not be solved by one-off activities around this or other similar events. However, these and future similar events in Europe are a good occasion to raise awareness among the public, specifically among consumers and users of goods and services. Moreover, the Experts Group would like to make some suggestions for future international sports events, thus minimising the risk of human beings to be trafficked and exploited in connection with such events. Therefore, the opinion expressed by the Experts Group focuses on general concerns related to trafficking in human beings as well as on concerns to be taken into account when organising any kind of international sports or other major public events. The Experts Group would like to highlight the need for facts-based and differentiated information as the basis for effective policies, avoiding to feed the myths – specifically on the numbers of victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation in connection with this event - circulating in the public. While acknowledging that increased trafficking activities in this moment are likely to happen, the Experts Group advises caution when using figures, as there are no confirmed figures quantifying the extent of the phenomenon. A careful distinction should be made between prostitution and trafficking. The Experts Group unremittingly highlights that trafficking in human beings is a crime implying serious human rights violations such as exploitation, coercion and deprivation of personal freedom. However, it should be kept in mind that trafficking does not happen for the purpose of sexual exploitation only, but occurs in many other unregulated segments of the labour market, such as domestic work, the construction sector, the gastronomy, agricultural work and sweat shops. Some of these sectors play an important role in connection with such major international sports events. In this context, the need for more in depth research on trafficking, forced labour and slavery-like practices in other sectors of the labour market becomes evident, as they still happen almost unnoticed by the public.
Related documents