| 1. UN appoints Special Rapporteur on Trafficking
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights has appointed
a Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women
and children, for a period of three years (2004/110). The Rapporteur
will submit an annual report each year together with recommendations
on measures needed to uphold and protect the human rights of
trafficked people. This post has the
potential to co-operate with IGO, NGOs and the victims of trafficking
themselves in seeking to ensure that Governments protect and
support the human rights of all trafficked people (including
those trafficked for labour exploitation), as set out in the
2000 Protocol and the High
Commissioner's Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human
Rights and Human Trafficking. However, much depends on who is
appointed to the post and how they interpret their mandate.
The resolution on trafficking in women and girls (2004/45)
was re-tabled at the Commission this year after an absence in
2003. The resolution contains useful wording on trafficking
issues and, amongst other things, calls on governments to: ensure
that trafficked persons are protected from further exploitation
and harm and have access to adequate physical and psychological
care; develop national plans of action to prevent and combat
trafficking in persons; outline measures taken to combat trafficking
in their periodic reports to the relevant UN human rights treaty
bodies; and offer trafficked person the possibility of obtaining
compensation for damages suffered. The full text of the resolution
is on the UN Commission on Human Rights website, at Commission
on Human Rights; 60th Session; Draft Resolutions and Decisions;
E/CN.4/2004/L.11/Add.4 (available here as a PDF file, see
bottom of page about reading PDF files.)
2. Vitorino explains EU's failure to ratify
the 1990 Convention
On 8 January 2004, Miet Smet MEP, asked why no EU Member State
had ratified the 1990 Convention on the Protection of the Rights
of All Migrant Workers and Their Families. In his reply, Mr
Vitorino said individual states were probably in a better position
to explain why they had not ratified the Convention, but he
noted that one of the main obstacles to ratification seemed
to be the fact that the Convention gives rights to all migrant
workers, without taking into account their legal or illegal
situation in the host country. He also stated that a significant
number of the rights mentioned in the Convention are guaranteed
by other instruments at the EU level and apply to EU citizens
as well as workers from third countries (the Charter of Fundamental
Rights of the European Union and the European Convention on
Human Rights) and the fact that the same rights are guaranteed
by different provisions could lead to different interpretations,
which could harm the legal security. You can find Mr
Vitorino's full response (currently only in French and Dutch)
on the European Parliament website, and an overview
of EU legislation, proposals, as well as background documents
concerning statistical data on migration and asylum issues in
the EU, on the website of the Justice and Home Affairs Directorate
of the European Commission.
3. Contact points on trafficked children
to be appointed in 14 states
The 11 member countries of the Council of the Baltic Sea States
(CBSS) and Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova have committed themselves
to co-operate to improve the situation of unaccompanied and
trafficked children in the region. One aspect of the co-operation
between the 14 states is that they will each appoint National
Contact Points.The list of individuals
already named as National
Contact Points, is available from the Child Centre section
of the CBSS website, where you can also find more information
on the work
done by the CBSS on the issue of unaccompanied and trafficked
children.
4. UN reviews link between trafficking
and peacekeeping
The UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) has issued
a policy paper which examines human trafficking as it relates
to UN peacekeeping. It aims to define the problem in the context
of UN peacekeeping and proposes a strategy for the DPKO to address
human trafficking, based on lessons from previous missions and
consultations with partner organizations in anti-trafficking.
The full report is available as a PDF document entitled DPKO
trafficking policy (see bottom of page about
reading PDF files.)
5. EU Parliament approves short term permits
Directive
The EU Parliament has approved, with a number of proposed amendments,
the Council's Directive on short term permits for victims of
trafficking. The proposed amendments include the insertion of
a statutory 30 day reflection period for victims of trafficking.
While the Council will review these proposed amendments, it
is not obliged to accept them. The full text
of the Parliament's
resolution and its proposed amendments are available from
the EU Parliament website.
6. New safe house opens in UK for trafficked
children
In April 2004, Integrated Care opened a safe house for trafficked
children. The safe house can receive referrals of trafficked
children from statutory authorities anywhere in the UK and provides
a range of services. For more details contact Lynne Chitty on
07981 123378 or see the article in the POPPY
Project Newsletter (available here as a PDF file, see bottom
of page about reading PDF files.) The Poppy
Project Newsletter is produced by Eaves Housing for Women and
also has articles on the services they provide to women trafficked
to the UK; an analysis the experiences of women accommodated
by POPPY before, during and after the trafficking experience;
news on recent trafficking court cases; and a profile of the
organisation Kalayaan, which works in support of migrant domestic
workers in the UK.
7. Publications and events
The
Health Risks and Consequences of Trafficking in Women and Adolescents.
Findings from a European Study (2003). This report,
by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in conjunction
with five other organisations, details the findings of a two-year
multi-country study on the health risks and consequences identified
among women and adolescents
who have been trafficked to the European Union. The report can
be bought for £3.00 (plus p&p) or downloaded for free
as a PDF.
Nowhere
to turn 2004 (available as a PDF file, see bottom of
page about reading PDF files.), a report
from the the Citizens Advice service in the UK says that the
UK remains the only EU country without an enforcement body charged
with ensuring that employers comply with their legal obligations.
It urges the UK Government to establish a Fair
Employment Commission to enforce the rights of millions of the
lowest paid workers in the UK, including migrant workers who
are vulnerable to exploitation. The report includes the case
of two Philippino women in King's Lynn who were made to work
80 hours a week for £75 at a care home and on several
occasions had been ordered out of bed in the middle of the
night to do domestic chores for the owner. It also refers to
the case of a Portuguese man and his 17-year-old pregnant wife
who had been brought to the UK to work on local farms. They
were sharing a house with 17 other workers and, after deductions
from their wages for transport and housing, were left with £6
per week to live on.
Gone
West: Ukrainians at work in the UK (2004), a report,
published by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), observes that
many Ukrainians come to the UK legitimately either on the Seasonal
Agricultural Workers Scheme, the Sector Based Schemes or as
students. However, some end up paying large amounts of money
to get onto these schemes or for their visas and end up overstaying
in order to pay back their debts. The TUC says more attention
needs to be paid to the rights of individuals, regardless of
their immigration status, and calls for changes to the current
schemes to prevent unauthorised fees being levied on migrants
by agencies back home and a system which allows workers to report
abuses without fear of punishment. It also says that workers
who have their passports seized or withheld by employers should
have an effective means of redress.
AFRUCA is holding a Festival Against Child Abuse from
21-26 June 2004 in the UK. The Festival aims to raise awareness
of key issues affecting the welfare of African children, including
child trafficking. For more information on the events please
contact AFRUCA at: FESTIVAL@Afruca.org.
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