10th EU Anti-Trafficking-Day
On this occasion a Press Conference was held in Vienna on 17th October. Participants of the Press Conference were EU Ambassador Didier Lenoir and Dr. Myria Vassiliadou, EU Anti-Trafficking Coordinator in the European Commission, as well as representatives from the EU Member States, namely Oľga Algayerová, Ambassador at the Permanent Mission of the Slovak Republic to the International Organisations in Vienna, Michèle Ramis, Ambassador of France in charge of transnational organised crime, Elisabeth Tichy-Fisslberger, Ambassador and National Coordinator on Combatting Human Trafficking of Austria, and Per-Anders Sunesson, Ambassador of Sweden in charge of combatting trafficking.
Ambassador Lenoir gave a brief introduction on the European Union's activity in the field of human trafficking, which is part of all conventions relevant in the fight against human trafficking. Lenoir emphasised the importance of a multilateral approach to combat human trafficking. He particularly highlighted the indispensable role of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). In this context, Lenoir also referred to the Global Action to Prevent and Address Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants (GLO.ACT) launched by the EU and the UNODC. This four-year joint initiative will be implemented in partnership with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
The EU and the UNODC look back on a long and fruitful cooperation. Their projects have primarily aimed at providing assistance to states worldwide in different policy areas. For example in the review of national legislation, the development of new legislation or the revision of legal instruments to address trafficking in human beings and migrant smuggling while focusing on the protection of the victims' rights. Other objectives have been the support of officials, judges and prosecutors in the process of law enforcement in the respective state or region as well as public awareness raising.
Thereafter, Dr. Myria Vassiliadou presented the Comprehensive Policy Review of Anti-Trafficking Projects, a study completed as a deliverable of the EU Strategy towards the Eradication of Trafficking in Human Beings (2012-2016). She noted that 321 anti-trafficking projects were directly founded by the European Commission at a total of EUR 158.5 million during the period between 2004 and 2015. This shows the comprehensive and ambitious EU legal and policy framework to address trafficking in human beings. Vassiliadou also underlined that women and girls accounted for 80% of the victims of human trafficking and that over two thirds of victims were trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation, including over 1,000 children. Furthermore, she pointed out that politics should turn its attention also to the question of who benefits from trafficking and exploitation of people to fight human trafficking successfully. Moreover, Dr. Myria Vassiliadou explained that human trafficking was not necessarily a transnational phenomenon but could also happen within a country.
The three ambassadors from Austria, Sweden and Slovakia reported on the legal situation in their countries. Elisabeth Tichy underlined the importance of raising awareness since most of the people only knew about sex exploitation but not about other major areas of exploitation such as in the field of agriculture or domestic work. As one instrument to fight human trafficking, Per-Anders Sunesson pleaded for the Nordic Model which bans prostitution by prosecuting the person buying sex but not the person offering it. Oľga Algayerová stated that Slovakia transformed the main conceptual ideas of the EU Strategy towards the Eradication of Trafficking in Human Beings 2012-2016 in its national program. As Slovakia currently holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, Algayerová assured that they used this period to support the development of future policy orientation at EU level to combat human trafficking.
As the world's largest donor of development and humanitarian aid, the European Union plays a significant role in the fight against human trafficking and migrant smuggling. To shoulder this responsibility, the EU cooperates closely with the UNODC. Since the EU started to support the UNODC in 2007, twelve projects have been implemented, to which the EU contributed $31.9 million.
More information on the EU's engagement in this field can be found in this Study on comprehensive policy review the European Commission of anti-trafficking projects which is funded by the European Commission (HOME/2014/ISFP/PR/THBX/0052 Final report).
Find here the Press Release on the Press Conference.