Mr President, every year, half a million women are tricked or forced into lives as sex slaves. This greatly increasing trade is more profitable than drug smuggling and is increasingly being directed by an organised mafia for trafficking in women. Despite this grim reality, the penalty for trafficking in women is exceedingly small compared with that for serious drug smuggling. It amounts to perhaps two years’ imprisonment compared with ten to fifteen years for serious drug-related offences. Few offenders are brought to court, and still fewer prosecuted. The EU has so far exemplified the fact that words are not always translated into reality. Despite a number of statements from the EU about the appalling traffic in women, there is still no complete database with information about victims, trade routes, legislation or measures to be taken. The European women’s lobby reports that only 0.036 per cent of the EU’s budget for the year 2000 has been set aside for issues of equality and that only a fraction of this fraction goes on measures to combat trafficking in women. A growing number of women are being smuggled in from the candidate States. In spite of this, the EU has not made demands upon these countries to prevent, and to introduce measures against, trafficking in women, similar to the demands that have been made regarding economic and environmental objectives to be attained by the candidate States. By not complying with existing laws and not creating new laws to tackle the mafia concerned, the governments of Europe are indirectly allowing this demand-driven trade to increase. There is a lack of legislation, not only in terms of measures to combat the aforesaid mafia, but also in terms of laws to protect the victims. All but two Member States send victims of the trafficking in women back to their countries of origin, in spite of the possibility that their lives may be in danger. We are voting today, or hopefully tomorrow, on an attempt to convert rhetoric and fine words into concrete measures. The Committee on Women’s Rights and Equal Opportunities is demanding that the Member States provide women who give evidence with protection and refugee status. We demand tough, exemplary penalties for trafficking in women, together with national informants on trafficking in women, able to inform their governments about developments in their own countries, as well as in other countries. We demand measures to combat the increasing use of the Internet for the purpose of trafficking in women, and we demand that national police forces and embassy officials be given appropriate training and that increased resources be made available for the voluntary organisations which provide aid to victims. Before the end of this year, the governments of the Member States will presumably have decided upon a new Treaty. We assume that this Treaty will contain a clear legal basis for combating all forms of violence against women, including, of course, trafficking in women, and that we shall be devising a common European policy for combating the trade in human beings. Among the issues which should be covered by this policy is that of immigration and asylum, especially that of the right to asylum on the grounds of sexually motivated oppression and sexually motivated persecution. In the United States and Russia, slavery was abolished in the 1860s. It has to be said, however, that the incidence of slavery is increasing, despite the fact that we have now entered the twenty-first century. This new form of slavery mainly affects women and girls but, irrespective of who is being enslaved, the mere presence of slavery is humanity’s best evidence of poverty. Many now support the demand to put a stop to the female slave trade, but more is needed in terms of manpower, intervention by governments and concrete action.

Political group: PSE