European Working Conference On Trafficking In Women, Organized By The Greens In The European Parliament

Amsterdam, 4-5 July 1991

RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE CONFERENCE

International / European level

1. The participants unanimously agreed to form a European Network Against Trafficking in Women.

The Network will address itself to the European Commission for financing of a European Coordination Office of the Network. The Network will cooperate closely with the network of prostitutes, the ICPR, and the networks of migrant women's organizations in Europe and women's organizations in the countries of origin. It will also consider cooperation with the European Databank on Prostitution and Migration in Turin and the European Anti-Poverty Network in Denmark. The Network strives to be a platform for the women involved to express their opinions and demands. The Network will begin as a coordinative group, which will investigate the ideas concerning the Network. Later decisions will be made regarding the structure, coordination and working groups of the Network.

2. The participants urge the United Nations (UN) Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery of the Commission on Human Rights, which will discuss the topic of Traffic in women in their meeting in July 1991, to take up the following recommendations:

  • The establishment of an International Fund for victims of trafficking for legal aid to women pressing charges in international cases, and for support of women to rebuild their lives, whether in their country of origin or in the country the charges are filed.
  • The appointment by the UN Commission on Human Rights of a special rapporteur on the traffic in persons.
  • To include a questionnaire on the situation concerning modern forms of slavery in the biennial report of the member states on the situation in their country with regard to the political, civil and human rights. In answering the questionnaire governments should be obliged to hear the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) working on this issue in their country.
  • The participants urge the U.N. Working Group on Contemporary forms of Slavery, the Council of Europe, the European Parliament and the national governments to press for new Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons. Taking as a starting point the right of self-determination of women, a new Convention should differentiate between prostitution as work and forced prostitution and should include all the modern forms of trafficking. As part of this new Convention, a permanent monitoring system should be set up in the form of a High Commissioner of Traffic in Women. This treaty should replace the 1949 Convention on the Suppression of Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others, which is based on the moral rejection of prostitution, and in its effect stigmatizes and criminalizes the concerned women.
  • Noting that in the context of Europe 1992 a heightened control of migrants from countries other than the European Community (EC) will be implemented and that expectations are that these will lead to an increased dependency and vulnerability of migrant women and at the same time to the creation of new channels of trafficking, participants stress the necessity of special measures to guarantee the autonomy and rights of migrant women. Among such rights the participants urge the right for an independent residence permit. More job possibilities should be opened for migrant women in Europe. As the Netherlands at this moment occupies the Chair of the EC-Council of Ministers, the participants resolved to send a telegram to the Dutch Minister of Welfare and the Minister of Justice, urging them to bring up the issue of trafficking in the Council of Ministers, and to ensure that agreements made in the Schengen Accord and in the TREVl working group are directed towards the improvement of the position of victims of trafficking in women and the prosecution of the traffickers. A copy of this telegram will be sent to the representatives of the other nations.
  • The participants note that the existing Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers of the International Labour Organization (ILO) exclude the so called informal labor sections (domestic labor, entertainment, prostitution), in which especially women work and by doing so indirectly discriminate women. The participants address themselves to the ILO to include in these Conventions the work of women in the informal labor sector, including prostitution, and to determine ways of ensuring their rights as workers.
  • The participants note that knowledge of the channels of trafficking and the international criminal networks of traffickers is a highly important matter. Establishing contacts with trusted representatives and development organizations in the countries of origin in order to investigate the roots of trafficking and collect juridical evidence against traffickers can be part of the work against trafficking.
  • Presentation of the results of this Conference will take place at the Seminar on Forced Prostitution and Trafficking in Women in Strasbourg 25-27 September 1991 by STV. 


National level

  • The participants call on governments to support national groups and self-organization of women for networking, awareness raising, the development and promotion of adequate support services, research and policy development.
  • With respect to the prosecution of trafficking the participants state that women must be enabled to report to the authorities without fear of deportation. They must be granted a temporary residence permit at least for the duration of the juridical proceedings to enable them to press charges, to give evidence in court and to allow them time and space to reflect and to be offered help. In addition they should be given an opportunity to pursue further training and education.

 This will serve as an encouragement for women to press charges and to witness in court, which is necessary to set juridical precedences for criminal prosecution.

The participants stress the point that women who appear as witnesses at a trial should be assured of protection against reprisals. Women should also be able to be represented by their lawyers at the trial instead of having to appear in court themselves, in order to avoid public confrontation with the suspect and a public recollection of their experiences. Those women who cannot return home should be granted residence permits on humanitarian grounds in the country where they pressed charges.

  • The participants state that the various national organizations which are working on the issue of trafficking in women should get together soon to discuss the outcomes of the Conference and decide on further actions.
  • According to the participants more attention should be given to better ways of influencing and mobilizing the press and the public opinion with regard to the topic of trafficking, which will avoid the distortion of the issues by the mass media.
  • The participants state that embassies of western countries in the Third World countries should be made more aware of the problems of trafficking and should give proper information on the situation of trafficking to applicants for a visum to a western country.
  • At police-interrogations of victims of trafficking a female police officer and/or interpreter
    should be present, the participants urge. Information and training on how to deal with victims of trafficking should be part of the instruction at police academies.
  • Finally the participants urge that the vice-squad always be called in to investigate suspected incidences of trafficking, in order to ensure proper investigation and to prevent the women from being treated merely as illegal migrants and thus summarily deported.

From: Report of the European Working Conference Against Trafficking in Women, Amsterdam, 4-5 July 1991. The Greens in the European Parliament in cooperation with the Foundation against Trafficking in Women (STV). pp. 21-22