WRITTEN QUESTION E-1082/00

by Laura González Álvarez (GUE/NGL) to the Council

(6 April 2000)

Subject: Prostitution rings run by Albanian mafia groups in EU Member States

Albanian mafia groups are profiting from the Kosovo conflict and illegal immigration into Italy to run female prostitution rings in EU Member States. Young women are recruited under false pretences, kidnapped or bought at refugee camps and then sent to towns in Germany, Italy, Belgium, France and Spain. This type of exploitation and treatment of women is particularly prevalent in Paris (where estimates put the number Albanian and Kosovo Albanian women at 300), Strasbourg, Lyon and Nice. The case of Italy is also alarming, with several cities in the south, as well as Milan in the north, serving as staging posts between Tirana and other EU Member States. The Belgian police force has been uncovering instances of women being sexually exploited by Albanian mafia groups since 1997. Other countries in Europe, such as Germany, where 10 000 or so women are forced to work as prostitutes, are experiencing the same problem. According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), in all some 300 000 women from eastern Europe are engaged in prostitution in western Europe.

Alberto Maritati, Under-Secretary of State at the Italian Ministry of the Interior, has called for international action. This problem was addressed at a symposium organised in Bari by the Council of Europe in November 1999, which condemned the existence of genuine forms of torture and slavery.

According to police superintendent Christian Amiard, who heads the Central Office on the Treatment of Human Beings (OCRTEH), many women are raped and initiated into prostitution in real-life concentration camps.

Is the Council aware of the scale and seriousness of this form of international organised crime? What measures have been taken in this area? What initiatives does the Council intend to develop in order to combat the activities of these mafia groups and dismantle the prostitution rings they run? Could it and the High Representative for Kosovo take preventive action in Kosovo? What action could be taken within the context of cooperation with Albania? What cooperation initiatives and measures involving Europol and Eurojust could be adopted?

Reply

(29 September 2000)

International organisations, human right reports and authorities in Member States as well as in candidate countries outline the serious problem of international organised crime in general and the trafficking in women and young girls in particular. Source and transit areas have been identified in South Eastern, Central and

Eastern Europe. In the past, Albanian networks used mainly women of their own ethnical background as prostitutes, but at present there is increasing evidence that the Albanians are diversifying their recruitment, mainly from other Eastern European countries. In particular Moldavan women have become victims for their criminal purposes.

Recent reports confirm that Albanian prostitution networks are particularly active in Italy, France, Belgium and the United Kingdom. They mention the use of extreme violence against the victims and links to other areas of organised crime.

Although the full extent of the problem is not known, since reliable and valid statistics are not available, the problem of (forced) prostitution and procurement give reason for serious concern and awareness within the Council.

In the process of enlargement, the Council and the 11 applicant countries at that time adopted the Pre-accession Pact on Organised Crime between the Member States of the European Union and the applicant countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Cyprus on 28 May 1998. The pact lists a number of practical measures for combating organised crime and other forms of serious crime, including trafficking in human beings and organised illegal immigration. The applicant countries' abilities to fulfil the requirements of the acquis with regard to preventing and combating organised crime is subject to monitoring during the accession negotiations under Chapter 24: Cooperation in the fields of justice and home affairs.

The Secretary-General/High Representative together with the Commission reported to the Lisbon European Council on the justice and home affairs situation in the Western Balkans and outlined the following Recommendation for action against organised crime: The problem of organised crime needs to be grasped in the context of the whole of South Eastern Europe. Any successful efforts to combat organised crime will need to benefit from extensive co-ordination with other anti-crime initiatives in the region, as well as in the broader European context. A strategy and action plan should be developed and closely related to the Pre-Accession Pact on Organised Crime between the Member States of the European Union and the applicant countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Cyprus of 28 May 1998. This model could be transposed to South Eastern Europe in the framework of the Stabilisation and Association Process and under the umbrella of the Stability Pact. It should aim at promoting an efficient police structure, capable of fighting organised crime, a suitably empowered justice system and the creation of appropriate legal bases for combating corruption.

The Council Secretariat is actively participating in the drafting of the Stability Pact initiative on organised crime in South-eastern Europe and the development of a comprehensive training programme for the countries of the region in the field of police training in general and measures to combat crime combating in particular.