New campaign to curb ‘slave trade’ in women

Date: 30/11/1995

EUROPEAN Commissioner Anita Gradin is launching a concerted campaign to stem the tide of young women lured from Central and Eastern Europe for work in the sex trade in EU countries.

But such is the lack of hard and fast information on this fast-growing trade that the Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner will concentrate her initial efforts on gathering data and trying to gain an overview of measures being taken by member states to crack down on a highly-lucrative business.

When experts from the member states, non-EU countries, the Council of Europe and the European Parliament meet in Brussels on 1 and 2 December, they will have the specific task of collating firm facts for a fully-fledged conference to be held in late May or early June next year, probably in Vienna.

The session will also address more specific questions, including the political and legal aspects of the problem, police and judicial cooperation between member states, assistance for victims and possible future European policies to combat trafficking networks.

Nobody from the women's countries of origin will be present at the preparatory session, although “they will be taken into account as observers at the conference next year”, according to Commission officials.

Gradin hinted at the seriousness with which she regards the problem in a key speech in Gothenburg recently.

Describing such trafficking in women for prostitution as “a pure slave trade, which ought to be in the headlines”, she added: “It is a cause of great shame to Europe, and must be placed firmly on the EU's political agenda.”

Her concern stems partly from indications that the true extent of the problem remains under-reported in western Europe. Most EU states still lack a coherent policy to combat trafficking and moves are only just being made to introduce measures designed to help victims prepare for their return home or assist them afterwards.

The issue has come under the spotlight since the opening of the 'Iron Curtain' at the end of the Eighties.

Surveys carried out by the Geneva-based International Organisation for Migration (IOM) found that two-thirds of the women 'trafficked' to the Netherlands are now from Central and Eastern Europe. Research suggests that the number of victims from Central and Eastern European countries has more than doubled in Belgium and trebled in the Netherlands over the last three years.

IOM, set up in 1951 to contribute to the solution of all manner of refugee problems, will be responsible for the organisation of both the preparatory meeting and next year's conference.

Its report on “Trafficking and Prostitution: the growing exploitation of migrant women from Central and Eastern Europe” pointed to the potentially huge profits which could be made from forcing women into prostitution.

Many of the women involved come from the Czech Republic, Russia and Ukraine. Most are under 25 years of age and many are between 15 and 18. Most fall victim to offers to work in the west as dancers, entertainers or waitresses. On arrival in the west, many have their passports taken away from them, others find themselves indebted to traffickers or club owners, while some are threatened with violence.

Moving women around the continent has become easier since visa requirements were relaxed for a number of countries.

The temptation to become involved in the trade is also increased by the relatively light sentences generally handed out by courts in most member states and the fact that there are relatively few successful convictions.

Two days after the meeting in Brussels, a delegation from the European Parliament's committee on women's rights will visit the Netherlands - accompanied by Commissioner Gradin - to meet with representatives of charities, the police, social services, the minister of justice and a prostitutes' organisation.