Where is the EU strategy to combat human trafficking?
Today, October 18, is the EU Anti-Trafficking Day. MEP Malin Björk asks why the EU Commission has so far failed to present the anti-trafficking strategy requested by both the Parliament and the Council.
– Women and children – mostly girls – make up 80 percent of all victims of human trafficking in the EU. They are mostly exploited in the sex industry and in prostitution. To end this abuse, we have to target those who feed the crime and abuse with their money and ”business” – the sex buyers and the pimps.– Women and children – mostly girls – make up 80 percent of all victims of human trafficking in the EU. They are mostly exploited in the sex industry and in prostitution. To end this abuse, we have to target those who feed the crime and abuse with their money and ”business” – the sex buyers and the pimps.
My country, Sweden, has already criminalized the buying of sex. And so has France, Norway, Iceland, and Ireland. It works, and it is time the rest of the EU countries do the same: Just do what it takes to make a real impact in stopping human trafficking, says Malin Björk.
– I also expect the European Commission to swiftly deliver on the demand expressed both by the European Parliament and the European Council: a new anti-trafficking strategy. It is worrying and, frankly, quite incomprehensible that this is taking so long”.