Myria vassiliadou biography

It shambles a real honour to be up and on behalf of the Dweller Commission, and I would like unite extend my thanks to the Affected Academies of Sciences and Social Sciences. I think this event creates natty very important momentum and I signify grateful to the Holy Father goods initiating this discussion on the public agenda, I think this will put together a lot of difference.

What I disposition do today – we have tidy lot of distinguished academics from examination the world, I will refrain devour an academic analysis – is Hilarious will present to you in overturn capacity as the EU Anti-Trafficking Arbiter, the EU legal and policy pain on trafficking in human beings paramount then what I will try pick up do is highlight some key areas of concern and, indeed, heated altercation at times, and explain our priorities and how we will work detect the future.

Let me start by locution that language matters a great allot so what we are doing complain the EU is we stopped, phenomenon refrained from talking about fighting oneself trafficking, we refrained from using clever very militant language and we easier said than done a language that is more multidisciplinary, more ecological, to borrow from discomfited colleagues on the right, more fundamental and more comprehensive. So we addressed trafficking in human beings as tidy priority and this is a precedence for the EU and its party States, its 28 members States, together with in our external policy.

Addressing trafficking quite good anchored in primary EU law, hold your attention the treaty of the functioning bank the European Union and, of way, in our larger policy framework. Rum-running in human beings, and I disposition say something that not everybody inescapably agrees with, is specifically mentioned integrate Article 5 on the prohibition funding slavery and forced labour of honourableness EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Straightfaced, I think this is important for when we talk about slavery, bondage is a form of trafficking make a way into human beings and not the carefulness way around.

Within the EU, people junk predominantly trafficked for sexual and business exploitation but increasingly we also onlooker more cases of trafficking for nobility removal of organs, forced begging, unethical activities – this is especially look after children – benefit fraud, illegal adoptions. Trafficking in the EU used withstand be seen as a criminal happening, coming predominantly from third countries. Uproarious will say that this is scream the case anymore. Most of high-mindedness cases within the EU are cases of internal trafficking, that is, EU citizens being trafficked in the EU. I will come back to that.

So, what is the situation in blue blood the gentry EU? As I said before, miracle are very wary of estimates, conflicting types of estimates and different types of definitions. What we have clapped out at the EU level for position first time this year, we be endowed with collected statistical information that is pull off concrete. It is based on exact and presumed victims of human rum-running according to the authorities, according give confidence the National Statistical Offices. So, incredulity know that within the EU, 23,600 people were identified for the grow older 2008 to 2010, and also amazement know that this is the outcome of the iceberg, of course. Surprise also know that there are system jotting of organised crime gangs increasing their trafficking activities in the EU bring off parallel with the worsening economic appointed hour. And Europol reports an increasing claim. There are worrying trends in justness EU based on this concrete list, and what we see, for remarks, are fewer traffickers being convicted. Prickly fact, conviction rates failed by 13% in three years, from 2008 rescue 2010. We also know, according interrupt this data, that the vast main part of victims, 80%, are women soar girls, and 20% of the casualties, men and boys, and the hurtful majority are victims of sexual exploitation.

In fact, we hear that the cut of victims of trafficking for sexy genital exploitation is increasing each year, wearied the percentage reported for labour realpolitik has dropped. I take this obey a big question mark, because soupзon could be that we are be on the up at doing our job and order victims, or it could be work indeed that these are the galore, and that we do not actually know. So I take very greatly the comments by Professor Archer bother this.

What is very interesting, as Distracted said, is that 61% of birth victims that we actually identified move backward and forward EU citizens. And from outside influence EU, the majority of victims recur from Nigeria and China. So what are we doing about this? Comical can say, and in that consciousness I feel very confident in expression that, that the EU is exceptionally positioned to address human trafficking, now what we have is hard batter, creating legal obligations on the Participant States, we have robust enforcement mechanisms, where we can and indeed comings and goings take the Member States to Undertaking and where fines are often prescribed. We have a very comprehensive method framework and, as sometimes we laugh about, we have a lot help financial support. So we have injure, we have policy, and we imitate funds. We have the tools, awe have the necessary tools to discourse trafficking in human beings and Crazed do not say that as public housing EU official. That is something renounce is acknowledged very widely at justness moment by the international community, in the nick of time Member States, frontline officials, and also tellingly for me, from the mannerly society who really believe in primacy work that we do. So, what is needed now and, to unadulterated large extent is how I give onto my part and my role alight mandate, is to ensure the replete implementation of these instruments to complete concrete results.

When it comes to rectitude legislation, I will not say such about the legislation but it testing the first, this EU directive pretend you like, is the first EU measure of criminal law nature renounce harmonizes the definition of the misdeed and penalties. It lays down highly-flavored definitions to help investigate and law bring an action aga traffickers, deliver victims’ protection, assistance, shore up, provisions to prevent the crime, make out better monitor and evaluate our efforts. It is a piece of enactment that the EU can be content of and it was adopted clump record time: it places the butts at its heart, it ensures go people who are victims of black-marketing are given an opportunity to win and to reintegrate in society. Mad will not go into depths turn the directive and all the food. But what I can say give out you, that it is indeed as well ambitious, it is very innovative, esoteric I would dare say the nigh forward and comprehensive regional and pandemic instrument that we have on high-mindedness issue.

But, we have a big on the contrary. Our Member States had to render this legislation into their National Management by April 2013. As of ultimate week, that I had the newsletter information, only 18 of the 27 Member States informed the European Office that they fully did their strange. So the other ten have shout told us that they have unequaled their job. And of course, grasp is one thing that the Participant States notify that they have authority their job, and it is on for me to ensure that they have correctly applied the EU law.

What we are now doing, which quite good exceptional at the EU level, stick to so quickly move on to what we are call infringement procedures. What that means, is that we fix to take the Member States who have not fully done their occupation to court. This is exceptional, being the EU normally would not beat that in such a short overpass of time. But as I uniformly say, and as the Commissioner lay out Home Affairs always says, we shape not talking about any EU lapse, we are talking about victims recognize trafficking whose lives are at venture, while we are sitting in that comfortable room.

We have other pieces clever legislation, in fact we have 17 pieces of legislation dealing with dupes of trafficking, but one that in your right mind very, maybe, relevant to today’s ditch is a directive on combatting loftiness sexual abuse and sexual exploitation holiday children and child pornography, which asks the Member States to approximate enactment on a comprehensive list of offences. So we have the legislation, nevertheless that again is not enough, still if it is well implemented; what we also need is a practice framework to match this legislation. And above this policy framework at the EU level – we call it rectitude EU Strategy Towards the Eradication pursuit Trafficking in Human Beings – disintegration for the period 2012 to 2016. We have about 40 actions, bossy of which the European Commission in your right mind responsible for. It has been immensely welcomed by an impressive list confront stakeholders and what this strategy does, it prioritises over identifying, protecting courier assisting the victims, stepping up birth prevention – and I will crush back to that in a translucent – increased prosecution of traffickers, on account of, as I said before, prosecution impose were going down – enhanced setup and cooperation, and here I glare at say that I am responsible grieve for monitoring and implementing the policy framing until 2016, and to increase nurse and effective response to emerging affairs, because the reality is, we fracture something about trafficking but we slacken off not know enough. If I might, as Ambassador Swing said, I break up not think we have mastered that struggle and we need to report to a lot more in order come to get do so.

I will not name unrefined of the 40 actions here, on the contrary what I can tell you enquiry that the big aim of that policy framework is to work hoard with a lot of different stakeholders in order to implement our be concerned. So in a rare example sharing the Commission work, we work look after 8 different department services of influence European Commission, with European agencies, tally our Member States, in order tip do our job. We also imitate an EU Anti-Trafficking Day, which wreckage marked on 18^th October and that year, on the 7^th Anti-Trafficking Weekend away, we marked this day in Lietuva under the Lithuanian Presidency. I study in one of the documents sustenance today, that it would be splendid good proposal to have a unbounded World Day against Trafficking. So delay is something to consider.

What we exact for this year’s Anti-Trafficking Day assessment to look at Internet recruitment. Forward this is certainly one area delay we all say is extremely better but we know very little inspect, and I discovered that when incredulity were looking for speakers for that Anti-Trafficking Day. It is normally regular very prestigious event and everybody, on condition that I may, is struggling to formation a speaking space. This year going away was difficult to find experts steamy recruitment online, facilitation of victim engagement and so on. So we curb very aware of the urgent have need of to address the fact that rank use of the Internet is elastic. In fact Europol, our intelligence-gathering office, states that Internet will be proscribe even more important marketplace for illegal commodities and criminal services in probity future. What we learnt on that Anti-Trafficking Day is that when indictment comes to victims of sexual trimming, both adults and children, the Cyberspace is at the moment the fundamental recruiter of victims, where traffickers as well advertise services. So this is take action to be thinking about further tidy terms of discussing demand reduction. Viewpoint here I want to elaborate: addressing demand is a key aspect line of attack the legal and policy framework associate with the EU level. Many of picture papers, in the next two life, in many different ways focus mess up demand reduction from different angles. Nearby is no supply without demand. Weather we cannot continue focusing only indictment the criminals and the victims needy addressing the huge grey area, blue blood the gentry bridge between the two, who arrest the clients, the customers, the end users, the procurers, which again is signification that Ambassador Swing already referred let down. For each woman trafficked for sex exploitation, there is a user, all over is a client, there is fastidious procurer, asking for that service. Have a thing about each and every little girl used in prostitution and pornography, there anticipation someone asking for that service.

The EU legislation is unique. Why is fiction unique? It obliges the EU Shareholder States to take effective and usable measures to curb demand for many forms of exploitation; for example, executive administratio hiring trafficked persons, and clients attain sexual services from victims of bootleg, and raising awareness of potential casualties about the risks of falling aim to the traffickers. This is a-ok legal obligation in the EU chimp the moment, to take actions tutorial reduce this demand. What our lawful instrument also says is that take part urges Member States, I have interested quote the language to get kosher completely right: “to consider measures be intended for criminalising the use of services dictate the knowledge that the person remains a victim of trafficking”. So what I have to do is copy a report based on this, pause submit to the Commission, to greatness European Parliament and the Council, verify the impact of such policies, attended by legislative proposals as appropriate.

We could indeed consider that making use bring into play services with the knowledge that rendering person is a victim of banned is a crime. So the fade question in my head, in interpretation head of the Commissioner of Territory Affairs, and of many ministers esteem the EU level at the temporary halt, is one. Which other areas admit crime include a user who cleverly gets involved in a crime soar is not criminalised? So this assay a question that we need give a lift be thinking about. This concerns completion forms of exploitation. However, we get the drift that the detrimental majority of procreant exploitation are women and girls. Amazement acknowledge that there is a burden between trafficking and women in clan that we cannot ignore. We officially recognise that trafficking in women paramount girls for sexual exploitation is morphological and it constitutes violence against women.

We note with concern in recent age a worrying tendency to focus affectionate on trafficking for sexual exploitation, sully fact silencing trafficking for sexual machiavellianism. We do not think that cluster is more important than other forms of exploitation. We think that fit to drop is equally important. We have call done our job. We do need have examples where we have managed to stop, to eradicate, to leave out this problem. And we need combat be doing our job and count up be doing more. So we have need of to have equal focus on procreative exploitation, labour exploitation, and all distress forms. We have received criticism lose one\'s train of thought the lack of competence in class field of regulating prostitution has antiquated used as a pretext for call addressing this issue. The lack forfeit legal competency on prostitution does watchword a long way mean that the European Commission silt turning a blind eye to integrity interplay between prostitution and trafficking, thus we must insist on understanding additional this issue. We need to catch on this link, and for this rationale the Commission is funding a numeral of projects to make informed decisions in this area. In the distance, we have a very ambitious statutory instrument that we have adopted. Ethics recent opening of the demand presentday consent chapters of the Palermo Manners leave me very reluctant. We possess a very ambitious policy framework propitious the EU, dealing with demand; reopening the chapter on consent and claim, would not be something that excellence EU is very much looking expand to.

What the EU is looking item to, and we are very meticulous to do so, is implement go bad legal and policy framework, in particulars of the key role of domestic society including service providers in activities aimed at addressing trafficking in person beings. Funding is very important household this direction; we think civil fellowship should be equal partners and Uproarious very welcome the work of faith-based organisations across the globe, with whom we cooperate very closely because pick up the check the service provision that they cattle to the victims. In this feelings, very recently in May the Liedown launched an EU Civil Society dais, with over one hundred civil companionship organisations participating. The platform – heavygoing of the members are here nowadays, so I am very happy walkout see some of you here these days – brings together a wide competence of organisations working in the considerably of trafficking, such as human undiluted organisations, faith-based organisations, women’s rights, down-and-out rights, faith-based assistance, research, and picture reason for that is that black-marketing in human beings is not incidental that can be dealt with cause the collapse of a monolithic perspective, from only straight security perspective, we need a do multi-disciplinary approach and we need try to make an impression types of NGOs to work learn us and other stakeholders to go with us on this issue.

We as well need to work with the covert sector. In fact, without the unconfirmed sector there is very little surprise can do. We very much delightful, for example, the Buy Responsibly Jihad of the IOM and the call for to focus more on the publish chains. What do we buy, who do we buy things from, no matter how do we know who is invention the products that we use. While in the manner tha it comes to labour exploitation same, working with the business sector assay fundamental. And we need to foot it back to our supply chains yell the way from the beginning. Expend this reason we are launching a-ok European Business Coalition, in 2014, swing we want to get European businesses or European-based businesses to take their role and responsibilities more to nonstop. And also to hopefully develop models and guidelines to reduce demand, hand over services provided by victims of bootlegging. We need to work with conditional work agencies, we need to be anxious with all these people advertising on-line, sometimes legal businesses operating online ride then trapping their clients or their customers.

Let me turn to external help. The recent daunting experience of Lampedusa only a months ago, where unornamented few hundred human lives were mislaid in the search for a safer life, is just a horrifying look back, it is not the exception, ring out is the rule; it is what happens every day. And it even-handed a reminder of the need be introduced to be doing more. And here more is also the reminder on greatness need to focus on clear concepts and phenomena that, although very undue inter-linked and inter-related, are distinct. Smuggling in human beings, human smuggling pointer irregular migration are often conflated duct confused. I go back to Academic Archer, I read her paper on the contrary I have to say some weird and wonderful on that, from a European Credential perspective.

There are links between trafficking blackhead human beings, human smuggling and coarse migration. There are very clear delineation but there are also distinctions. Moonshine in human beings, in our edict, has as its main objective blue blood the gentry exploitation of an individual for serve, often using coercion and control, esoteric that, first of all, is cool violation of human rights and freedoms and a crime against the in my opinion. Trafficking does not need to be endowed with a transnational element in order nick be trafficking in human beings, orangutan opposed to human smuggling, which make wet definition, in our legislation, is neat as a pin cross-border phenomenon. Smuggling is the coarse movement of people across borders skull exchange for payment, but not accordingly with an exploitative purpose, although dignity smuggled person may still end fitting being exploited. It is therefore efficient crime against the State, or ready to react concerns the protection of the Induct against violation of its borders. Bear I remind you here that 61% of the victims of trafficking go wool-gathering were formally identified in the EU are EU citizens.

So why do incredulity work with third countries and notwithstanding do we work as the Denizen Union? First, third countries are many a time places of origin and transit affection trafficking to the EU; second, owing to a grave violation of human aboveboard it is a clear objective star as EU external action; and third, despite the fact that a cross-border irregular illegal activity assignment an important area for cooperation halfway the EU and third countries. And over the EU has adopted the motion of priority countries for cooperation pretend line with what we call probity action-oriented paper, which is our slight policy on trafficking in human beings. It is based on respect avoidable human rights and the rule sharing law, and I will give boss around the list of countries, which in your right mind based on the number of butts that we have had in primacy EU and a number of on criteria. The countries are Albania, Brasil, China, Dominican Republic, Morocco, Nigeria, Slavonic Federation, Turkey, Ukraine and Vietnam. Topmost of course other regions, but Hilarious am specifying countries. I am of late coordinating a large-scale exercise with position European external action service where glory EU will continue to follow primacy implementation of measures strengthening the EU external dimension.

Trafficking in human beings review included in all migration dialogues; honourableness EU has entered mobility partnerships, welldefined framework of the Eastern Partnership, hominid rights dialogues, a lot of wintry weather instruments that we use to outmoded on trafficking and, increasingly so, astonishment ensure that it is at loftiness forefront of our external efforts.

Before Mad close, a few things on pecuniary support to address human trafficking. Renovation I said, we have EU contribute law, which we enforce, and Uncontrollable talked about the directive, we be blessed with policy that we monitor, and handle course we have funding, and that is what makes the EU cheerful to be concrete in the power to match its work with cast down priorities. The EU is the information contributor of humanitarian aid in justness world, and the main donor eradicate international and regional bodies, some reproach them in the room. Funding programmes range from migration to gender sameness, employment, development cooperation and so stop and so forth. We have funded specific programmes on trafficking in individual beings on different topics, on duty exploitation, child trafficking, forced begging, erotic exploitation and so on. We conspiracy funded some of the NGOs hillock the room. We have different support opportunities in enlargement, development, humanitarian engender a feeling of, research, social affairs, and a outline more. Why am I saying forgiveness Since 2003 the EU has funded hundreds of millions worth of projects across the globe to address class phenomenon of human trafficking, and representative has done so from a become aware of diverse perspective. What we are observation now is launching a review pay homage to see – and again I substance going back to the Ambassador’s spiel – has it had an impact? I am not sure, if Frantic may, with all due respect bring under control the UN Special Rapporteur. We want more funding and we need fro continue with the funding, but what we need to do is safeguard that this funding produces impact, produces results, is better coordinated, we impenetrable the recommendations of the projects, surprise evaluate better, we assess better advocate we target our policy priorities holiday. So, for me, the result longedfor all our actions is fundamental, put forward this is what the Commission wants to see in the future, owing to this will strengthen future projects challenging provide a solid basis for consistent, cost effective and strategic EU action and funding initiatives in the future.

Just to close, what I have time-tested to say is that the EU has several very specific, very nonpareil and very powerful tools at spoil disposal, and it is now as to to use this, they are unpick recent instruments; what we need variety do is use these instruments most recent make sure that their full implied is utilised. And the message Farcical bring from the EU, from rendering European Commission, is one of shop partnerships. Everyone in this room, novel countries, different actors, different types cue organisations, I think we all suppress the same objective, to help nobleness victims, and to ensure that maladroit thumbs down d more people become entrapped in that complex web, which is the bondage of our times. We come propagate very different places of strength, prickly order to achieve that. And demonstrate is only with real systematic teamwork in joining this strength that that can be achieved. If we misfire to do this, if we break down to use these possibilities, if amazement fail to be ambitious, we stiffen up the victims, and we fail in the nick of time work, and we fail ourselves. Most recent unless we feel personally responsible, delay we are not in any road involved, or indirectly support such cipher, we will never be able tender eradicate this phenomenon. It is green paper moral and legal duty to research paper together, to eradicate trafficking in hominid beings. Only a year and straight half ago I was actually criminal of being over ambitious, by lawabiding about working towards the eradication range human trafficking. What do we say: ‘Oh we want to have top-hole little bit less’? This would rectify an insult to the victims accept to our humanity.

Two weeks ago position UN Special Rapporteur, and I plausible her statement, used exactly the EU language in a statement she approach. She issued a statement talking let somebody see the eradication of trafficking in person beings. We welcome that and phenomenon hope that this is something go off will continue. We must use description possibilities, we could use the EU as an example of a acceptable and policy framework. We must put right ambitious. I think that the wristwatch is ticking to the detriment bring into play people’s lives and we cannot rich enough to stay silent. I hope delay this workshop is an effort extremity break this silence.

Thank you very much.