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1. European Parliament questions the European
Commission on trafficking
In a joint debate, European MPs questioned the Commission
on its measures against trafficking in human beings and its
position on the launch of an anti-trafficking day. The questions
focused on the compliance of Member States with the Council
Directive 2004/81/EC (available here as a PDF file, see
bottom of page about reading PDF files). The Commission was
also asked about the possibility of launching an anti-trafficking
day this year.
2. Human Rights Watch calls on UAE to address
abuse of migrant workers
Migrant workers comprise nearly 90 per cent of the United Arab Emirate's
private sector workforce. Recently, there have been protests
and strikes by workers against their treatment and abuse by
employers. Non-payment of wages, denial of medical care, appalling
living conditions and debt bondage are the most serious violations
of migrant workers' rights.
Despite the protests, the UAE Government fails to commit itself
to stopping these violations. Human Rights Watch calls
also on the European Union, United States and Australian governments, which are currently
negotiating free trade agreements with the UAE, to require their
labour standard and practices to be improved before signing
such agreements. The full article is available from the Human
Rights Watch site.
3. Licensing of gangmasters starts in
the UK
The compulsory licensing for gangmasters will be introduced
from 6 April in the United Kingdom. By introducing this measure, the
UK Government hopes to protect (migrant) workers from exploitation.
Under the new measure, anybody who supplies workers into agriculture, horticulture,
shellfish gathering or processing and packaging any produce
derived from agricultural work or
shellfish and fish, will need
to have a license. Operation without a license will become an
offence from
1 October, and labour users who use
unlicensed gangmasters will be punishable from 1 December.
4. Oman enters CEDAW
On 7 February, Oman acceded to The Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW). The total number of the parties to the Convention is
182.
5. Events
On 27 April, Capita is holding its 4th conference on
Tackling the Trafficking of Women
and Children in London (the flyer is available here
as a PDF file, see bottom of page about
reading PDF files).
6. New publications and reports
The digital library http://www.childtrafficking.com
has been updated with new documents.
Globalisation,
Trade and Trafficking in Women in Latin America is now
available from Choike.
Albanian organisation Vatra/the Hearth released its annual
report, containing the most recent information on trafficking
in Albania (available here as a PDF file, see bottom
of page about reading PDF files).
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