| 1. Council of Europe Convention goes to
Parliamentary Assembly
At its January 2005 plenary session the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe (PACE) will debate the contents of
the latest
draft of the European Convention Against Trafficking in Human
Beings.
PACE will adopt an Opinion on the Convention which the Council
of Europe's Committee of Ministers will consider when they meet
to adopt the Convention in March 2005. Anti-Slavery International
and Amnesty International are calling on PACE to ensure that
the human rights of trafficked persons are recognised and fully
protected in the Convention. For more details go to the press
release on the Convention.
In the UK, Tony Lloyd MP has tabled a statement in Parliament
(EDM No. 421), which urges the UK Government to strenuously
resist proposals which would weaken the assistance and protection
provisions of the Convention and go against its stated aim of
developing an international standard which improves on the protection
currently afforded to trafficked people. Anti-Slavery International
urges individuals and organisations in the UK to write to their
MPs and to ask them to sign EDM No.421. For
the full text of the EDM and the names of the 70 MPs who have
already signed.
2. Experts Group's report is published
On 22 December 2004, the EU Experts Group on Trafficking in
Human Beings published its report on actions
the European Commission should take to combat trafficking
(the full report is available here as a PDF file, see bottom
of page about reading PDF files). The report
contains 132 recommendations covering all areas related to trafficking
including prevention, migration issues, protection and support,
law enforcement, etc. These recommendations should form the
basis of a communication from the Commission later this year.
However it is up to NGOs to promote and lobby for the implementation
of the Experts' recommendations at both a national and European
level.
3. Calls for action on International Migrants'
Day
Mr. Prasad Kariyawasam, Chairperson of the UN Committee on
Migrant Workers, made a statement on International Migrants'
Day (18 December) in which he said that the time for excuses
was over and that "it is essential that States involved
in all stages of the migration process, both from developing
and developed world, become, parties to it [the 1990 UN Convention]."
He stressed that by "defining migrants' rights and by requesting
States to co-operate in promoting sound, equitable and humane
conditions, the Convention creates an essential framework to
tackle the grievous issues of smuggling of migrants and trafficking
in persons."
In
a speech, UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan called on the
international community to "build a framework for a coherent,
comprehensive and global response to migration. Let us pledge
to do more to promote and defend the human rights of all people,
regrdless of their migration status" .
The ILO
Director General noted in a speech that the growing global
mobilisation around migrant worker concerns was encouraging,
but stressed that "migrant workers rarely get a fair deal:
they face frequent violations of basic rights, widespread discrimination
and xenophobia and limited integration into host societies."
4. UK Government declines to ratify UN Convention
on migrants
The Government response to the International Development Committee's
report on Migration
and Development: How to make migration work for poverty reduction
was published on 20 December.
In paragraph 49, the Government acknowledges the contribution
migrants make to the economy and society of host countries.
The Government estimates that in 1999/2000, foreign-born migrants
made a net fiscal contribution of £2.5 billion to the
UK and paid 10 per cent more in taxes than they received in
public services.
However, in paragraph 22, the Government states that it will
not ratify the 1990 Convention as this "would undermine
the UK's system of frontier controls as well as having major
cost implications for the Government and local authorities".
The Government also states that "if the UK were to ratify
the Convention, we would not be able to restrict the employment
that work permit holders can do to that specified on their permit
and they would have access to public funds from the date that
they entered the UK .... the Convention would also allow migrant
workers to remain in the UK and claim benefits for the duration
of their period of stay, even when they are unemployed for some
or all of this period. In itself, it would create an unnecessary
'pull factor'. "
5. Middle East countries report child trafficking
problem
Saudi and Yemeni officials recognised that children are being
abducted in Yemen and trafficked to Saudi Arabia to work as
beggars. Gulf
News reports that in recent years the Saudi authorities
have returned more than 4,000 children to Yemen who were caught
begging in various Saudi cities.
Qatar is also acting to stop the trafficking of children to
work as child jockeys. The Daily
Star
reports that the Cabinet "agreed to take the required
measures to ban the bringing, hiring and training of children
in camel races". While the age has not been specified,
an official previously referred to banning children under 18
years old.
6. Conference, publications and web resource
CAPITA are organising a conference in London on 9 February
entitled Tackling the Trafficking of Women and Children.
For further information contact James Kirkland 020 7808 5278
or email james.kirkland@capita.co.uk
The final conference of the Network for European Women's Rights
(NEWR) will take place on 30 June and 1 July 2005 at the Centre
for the Study of Global Ethics, University of Birmingham (UK).
The conference invited speakers include Yakin Ertürk, UN
Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, and Mary Robinson,
Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. There will be
panels on four themes, one of which will be trafficking in women.
For more details on the conference go to: http://www.newr.bham.ac.uk
or contact Audrey Guichon at: a.guichon@bham.ac.uk
The Centre for Feminist Legal Research (CFLR) New Delhi, has
recently published reports relating to migration and trafficking,
including a document on an International Seminar on Human Rights
and Cross-Border Movements (2004) and a handbook on Human
Rights and Legislative Practices to Combat Trafficking in Persons,
primarily for use by activists in the Asia-Pacific region. To
review these and other documents go to http://www.cflr.org
or for further information contact cflr_45@yahoo.com
Terre des Hommes in Nepal have updated their website on child
traffiicking which can be accessed at: http://www.childtrafficking.com
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