UK Government must act on European Parliament's call for action against trafficking

1.26.18pm GMT Thu 16th Nov 2006

The UK Government must listen to the call from the European Parliament today to take firm and comprehensive action against the problem of human trafficking according to long-time campaigner Liz Lynne MEP.

MEPs in the plenary session in Strasbourg backed a report that called on Member States to sign up to all European and international treaties on the issue, to work to protect victims of trafficking and to organise a co-ordinated international network to fight traffickers.

Speaking from Strasbourg, Liz, who was the author of a policy motion on human trafficking that was adopted unanimously by the Liberal Democrat Party Conference in September, said:

"The UK Government can no longer ignore the calls coming from the European Parliament, from charities and even from its own committees to sign up to the Council of Europe's Convention on action against human trafficking.

"The numbers involved are staggering and the majority of the cases are women and children. Sexual exploitation is the biggest reason for trafficking but people are also being sold into slavery and having their organs harvested.

"Women rescued from trafficking are often at their most vulnerable and we need to ensure they are not treated as criminals but are protected and given time to recover.

"The only way we can effectively fight trafficking is for Member States to pool resources and information and work together across borders to take on these highly-organised gangsters."

Editor's Notes

The European Parliament today backed the report on 'Fighting trafficking in human beings - an integrated approach and proposals for an action plan' in Strasbourg.

The UK Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights recently said it could see no convincing reason for the government not to sign the Council of Europe's convention on action against human trafficking.

According to the 2005 Trafficking in Persons Report by the US Department of State Office an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 men, women and children are trafficked across international borders each year. Approximately 80% of those are women and girls and up to 50% are minors.

The estimated number of victims of trafficking in the EU is over 100 000 and the Council of Europe believes that trafficking in human beings is the third largest source of money produced by organized crime, after arms and drugs.