Fighting trafficking in human beings, an integrated approach and proposals for an action plan

PURPOSE: to present a proposal from the European Parliament, in particular Mrs Barbara KUDRYCKA on behalf of the EPP-DE Group pursuant to Rule 114(1) of the Rules of Procedure, to the Council on fighting trafficking in human beings proposed by the Commission in its communication COM(2005)0514.

CONTENT: in her proposed recommendation, Mrs KUDRYCKA:

-          invites the Council to convert human trafficking from a 'low risk – high reward enterprise for organised crime' into a high risk – low reward one. Law enforcement must use all the resources and capacity available to enforce the prohibition of human trafficking, to deprive it of any economic advantage and, where financial gain has been made, to seize and confiscate any assets. The investigation of human trafficking should be afforded the same priority as other areas of organised crime in that specialist investigative techniques and disruption strategies should be employed;

-          calls for Member States to speed up the transposition of Directive 2004/81/EC and take into consideration the recently concluded Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings;

-          calls for Member States to ensure that the necessary organisational structures, specialised personnel and adequate financial resources for their law enforcement authorities are made available. Member States should ensure that national law enforcement agencies regularly involve Europol in the exchange of information, in joint operations and joint investigative teams and use the potential of Eurojust to facilitate the prosecution of traffickers;

-          invites Member States and the Commission to strengthen political dialogue with third countries bilaterally and multilaterally on the human rights dimensions of anti-trafficking policies and continue to raise the issue in relevant regional and multilateral forums;

-          calls on the EU torecognises the importance of taking forward a human rights and victims-centred approach.

In addition, the rapporteur calls for Member States to ensure that the human rights of victims of trafficking are protected fully at all stages in the process.

Lastly, regional solutions to prevent trafficking in human beings and to ensure the safe return and reintegration of victims are essential. Member States and the Commission should continue to promote regional initiatives that complement and inspire EU-wide cooperation (inter alia the Nordic Baltic Task Force against Trafficking in Human Beings, the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative, the pan-European Budapest Process, the '5+5 dialogue' between the Western Mediterranean countries, the Mediterranean Transit Migration Dialogue and other forums/organisations).