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INTERNATIONAL ECONOMY: Action urged to combat traffic in humans =========================== By Frances Williams in Geneva FT.com site; Jul 23, 2002 International agencies on Monday called for Europe-wide action to combat trafficking in humans in south-eastern Europe, the main source of the estimated 120,000 women and children smuggled into prostitution in the European Union each year. Presenting a joint report by the United Nations and the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said "urgent, effective and coherent action" was needed by governments to tackle this "subterranean, criminal-dominated. . . form of modern slavery". The report calls on European governments to pursue traffickers and to support victims rather than punishing them while letting traffickers go free. "In general, trafficking is still viewed as an issue of migration or national security and not as a human rights violation," the report's sponsors - the UN human rights office, the UN Children's Fund (Unicef) and the OSCE - point out. Gerard Stoudman, director of the OSCE human rights office, said on Monday there were "probably more slaves today in many European capitals than. . . since the end of the 18th century when slavery was still customary". Meanwhile, western European governments were salving their consciences with small-scale projects in south-eastern Europe but doing little to combat the root causes. Trafficking is fuelled by the failure to tackle the poverty that impels young women to "take a chance" with doubtful contracts. Mr Stoudman also blamed the international presence in Kosovo and Bosnia. "If you have 50 brothels in Pristina, Kosovo, it is not because Albanian Kosovars are particularly vicious, it is because you have a number of Nato battalions stationed there," he said. Corruption, for instance of customs officials, was another problem. The UN and OSCE are hoping the Council of Europe in Strasbourg will launch negotiations this September on a Europe-wide convention intended to provide a framework for combatting trafficking in humans throughout the continent. The report cites estimates that half a million women are smuggled into western Europe each year, a large proportion of them from eastern Europe. --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
