Punish modern slavers, help the victims, Brussels urges

Mar 29, 2010, 17:46 GMT

Brussels - European Union member states should approve new laws to crack down on human traffickers, who are seen as the modern equivalent of 19th-century slavers, and help their victims, the EU's executive said Monday.

EU member states are currently grappling to bring migration into Europe under control, and see the fight against organized gangs of people smugglers as one key part of the strategy.

'In the 21st century, we should not have women and girls reduced to sexual slavery, children beaten and mistreated (and) forced to beg and steal, and young adults compelled to work in appalling conditions for hunger wages. These crimes are not acceptable,' EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said.

According to EU estimates, several hundred thousand people are smuggled into Europe, or between member states, each year. Many are forced to work as prostitutes or in slave-like conditions.

EU states find it hard to handle the cross-border problem alone.

Malmstrom therefore proposed a new set of EU rules which would both crack down on the criminal gangs which run the trade and do a better job of protecting the modern-day slaves themselves.

The proposals would, for the first time, establish a standard EU-wide definition of 'criminal human trafficking,' with tough minimum penalties for traffickers.

They would, at the same time, protect the victims of the trade from prosecution on grounds such as possession of fake papers, if the papers in question were forced on them by their traffickers.

They would also allow EU police services to prosecute EU citizens for crimes committed outside the EU, and to use anti-Mafia techniques such as phone taps and the surveillance of bank transfers to do so.

They would strengthen police protection of and support for the victims, for example by allowing them to testify against the trafficker without having to see them and to have access to protected housing, medical help and counselling.

The rules would set stiffer penalties for the 'employers' of the modern slaves, such as sweat-shop owners and brothel managers.

And they would improve cooperation between EU states by setting up the office of an EU anti-trafficking coordinator and national bodies to monitor the implementation and enforcement of the rules.

EU member states and the European Parliament would have to approve the proposals for them to come into force.