Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, trafficking in human beings is one of the most sickening manifestations of the growing phenomenon of international crime, and the trafficking of children is more sickening still. The trafficking of children in order to remove organs is the most gruesome part of this immoral and repulsive business. From the point of view of ethics, I have no interest in discussing the reasons behind this criminal activity, whether it be for reasons of witchcraft, organ trafficking or whatever. There are human beings who need our support and our protection, people who lose organs or even their lives as a result of this practice. Information has recently come to light on the continued practice of this type of criminal activity in Mozambique, which is, of course, cause for great concern. In addition to the human dimension of these events, we Portuguese have linguistic and cultural ties with that country. I therefore welcome both this debate and the one that took place yesterday in the Portuguese Parliament, on the initiative of Mrs Morais, a Member of the Portuguese Parliament. I was also pleased to see that the Prime Minister of Portugal, Dr Durão Barroso, raised the matter with the Mozambican President during his ongoing State visit to the country. I should like to make three points on the matter. Firstly, we must combat this crime wherever it occurs. I do not believe we can take any other stance. Trafficking in human beings and, especially, children for removing organs, is a despicable trade that must be combated and is one of the worst manifestations of the growing phenomenon of international crime. All specialists agree that most organised networks are international; like other types of crime, this goes beyond national borders. If we are to tackle crime effectively, to identify criminals and to protect victims, international cooperation must be strengthened. This brings us to my second point. We must not feel embarrassed at our level of development. I have read that the reluctance on the part of some countries to recognise that this type of criminality goes on in their territory is down to the narrow-minded notion that it only happens in developing countries. The truth of the matter is that this type of appalling activity occurs everywhere, given that it is a crime to buy, just as it is to sell, human organs and that there are fewer and fewer borders in international crime. On 23 October last year, in this House, we debated a proposal for a framework decision on promoting the fight against trafficking in human organs and tissues, to which both the President-in-Office of the Council and Mr Vitorino referred. At the time, I expressed our concern at the emergence of this phenomenon, and mentioned the alarming number of abductions in Brazil and Guatemala, as well as similarly worrying news from accession countries such as Hungary and the Czech Republic. I called for an integrated Community approach and for the definition both of offences in the trafficking of human organs and tissues and their respective penalties to be harmonised. Thirdly and lastly, we must not be afraid to help. We have an obligation to help, both on behalf of the humanitarian causes to which we subscribe, and in the interests – which must be common interests – of putting a stop to this unholy trade and of dismantling the existing international networks. We therefore say clearly to the Commission and to the Council that we have a duty to help. We note the statement on the matter made by Commissioner Nielson at the time, to the effect that our help had not been requested, thus far, by the Mozambican authorities. We would therefore like to say to the governments, to the judiciary and to the police forces of the countries concerned that there is nothing to fear from international help to combat these crimes. In so doing we are not diluting, but strengthening the instruments and resources to combat this common evil.

Political group: PPE-DE