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EU Anti-Trafficking Day 18
October 2009
Issuing Organisations: the
European Women’s Lobby and its European Policy Action Centre on Violence
Against Women
According to the UN, 79% of
trafficking in human beings is for sexual exploitation. Unsurprisingly
therefore, more than 80% of these victims are women. To mark its third
Anti-trafficking Day, the EU will hold a Ministerial conference on 19-20
October which will focus on global partnerships from a European security and
justice perspective. Commenting on this upcoming event, Brigitte Triems,
President of EWL/EPACVAW, says: ‘The European Women’s Lobby (EWL) and its
European Policy Action Centre on Violence Against Women (EPACVAW) regret that
the conference will not address trafficking in human beings from a gender
equality perspective and tackle the real root causes of trafficking in women
for sexual exploitation.’
‘It is time for the EU and its
‘It is therefore not surprising
that the lack of EU policy against violence against women has led to an
increase in procuring and fuels trafficking in women into Europe for sexual
purposes and sex tourism’ explains Brigitte Triems. ‘In order to ambitiously
tackle trafficking in women for sexual purposes, the EU must uppermost tackle
the demand side of the phenomenon through awareness raising, education to
equality and effective sanctions to prostitute-users and procurers.’
As the EU seeks to strengthen its
role as a key actor on the international stage, the EWL and EPACVAW call on the
EU to affirm its strong commitment to eradicate all forms of male violence
against women within its borders, as well as outside its territory. ‘We hope
that the EU Ministerial Conference will be the momentum for a concrete strategy
to counteract trafficking in women at international level, founded on a strong
European commitment to women’s rights to physical, moral and sexual integrity’,
concludes Brigitte Triems.
For more information, please
contact Colette De Troy, EPACVAW Director, T: (+32) 2 210 04 24, detroy@epacvaw.org,
or Leanda Barrington-Leach, EWL Communications and Media Officer, T: (+32) 2
210 04 41, barrington@womenlobby.org,
and see www.epacvaw.org
and www.womenlobby.org.
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