WUNRN
Human Rights Without Frontiers
Trafficking in Human Beings and
Sexual Exploitation: Preliminary Research on the Reduction of Demand (Part I)
By
Gisèle Poinier and Willy Fautré, Human
Rights Without Frontiers
HRWF (03.03.2010) - A vast amount of scholars, experts, NGOs and legislators worldwide concur that there is a direct link between prostitution, human trafficking and sexual exploitation of women.[1][1] In the EU, the issue has been tackled from several angles by the Member States. However, despite numerous reports, action plans and international conferences on combating human trafficking and sexual exploitation, the sex trade and organized criminal rings continue to flourish. Reducing the demand for "sexual services" is a new battlefield that some international organizations and states are cautiously exploring. This paper plans to contribute to the debate on the efficiency of the existing demand-focused policies and on the forms that the reduction of the demand could take.
International
Instruments and Reduction of Demand
Reducing the demand
for sexual services is recommended in various degrees by intergovernmental
organizations, though not often with concrete measures and policies for its
implementation.
United Nations
Council of Europe
The Council of
Europe Convention on Action Against
Trafficking in Human Beings and its Explanatory Report (Warsaw, 16.V.2005)
also focuses on the reduction of demand[3][3], particularly in the sex trade. Section 6 of the CoE Convention - Measures to discourage demand - states:
" To
discourage the demand that fosters all forms of sexual exploitation of persons,
especially women and children, that leads to trafficking, each Party shall
adopt or strengthen legislative, administrative, educational, social, cultural,
or other measures including: a) research on best practices, methods, and
strategies; b) raising awareness of the responsibility and important role of
media and civil society in identifying the demand as one of the root causes of
trafficking in human beings; c) target information
campaigns involving, as appropriate, inter alia, public authorities and policy
makers; and d) preventative measures, including educational programs for boys
and girls during their schooling, which stress the unacceptable nature of
discrimination based on sex, and its disastrous consequences, the importance of
gender equality and the dignity and integrity of every human being."
By dedicating a
separate freestanding article on demand, the Council of Europe sought to
"underline the importance of tackling demand in order to prevent and
combat the traffic itself."
European Parliament
0n 24 October 2006,
MEP Edit Bauer (Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs)
released the Report on trafficking in
human beings drafted with MEP Maria Carlshamre (Committee on Women's Rights
and Gender Equality).
The demand side is not ignored. The report stresses
that "the sex industry is based on the principle of supply and
demand" and that "the 2003 IOM report recognizes that growing
consumer demand is undoubtedly one of the factors contributing to the
phenomenon of forced labour in the sex industry", (See p 7 of the report).
It also states that "the European
Commission should evaluate and disseminate best practices for reducing demand
in the Member States for services provided by persons trafficked for the
purposes of labor or sexual exploitation or any other purpose" (See p 11).
The report also underlines "the importance for EU institutions and Member
States to promote gender-specific prevention
strategies as a key element in combating trafficking in women and girls, apply
gender-equality principles and eliminate the demand for all forms of
exploitation, including sexual exploitation and the exploitation of domestic
labour."
In the "Explanatory statement",
the report stresses that "According to some experts the
main drive of trafficking is the demand. Market demand - particularly from
sex-buyers - creates strong profit incentives for traffickers, boosting the
growth of trafficking in human beings. The US State Department Report[4][4]
stresses, that where prostitution flourishes, so does an environment that fuels
trafficking in persons." (See p
17)
In the "Measures at the level of Member States
and at the EU level", it is clearly stated that "Member States should
take the necessary steps to actively target and prosecute those who knowingly
use the services of victims of trafficking, in order to reduce the demand for
trafficked persons." (See p 24)
In its Opinion, the
Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality quotes the 2004 US Department
of State report[5][5]
which states that "where prostitution has been legalised or tolerated,
there is an increase in demand and that legalisation of prostitution opens
markets for criminal enterprises."
Despite these
strong remarks, the Recommendations to the Council remain very weak:
"There is an urgent need for
prevention and Member States should also focus on demand and provide
information through education campaigns, making the public, and in particular
customers/clients, aware of the problem." (See p 35).
More than four
years later, it can be said that the vague recommendations of the report have
been inefficient. Sexual exploitation is flourishing more than ever in Europe.
On 10 February
2010, the European Parliament adopted a Resolution
of on preventing trafficking in human beings.[6][6]
However, the resolution fails to clearly tackle the demand issue, unlike the UN
Protocol and the Council of Europe Convention.
The content of the European Parliament resolution on trafficking in
human beings includes only vague language as far as demand is concerned. The
word "demand" only appears four times in the resolution and not even
once in direct connection with sexual exploitation. Paragraph Q of the resolution
states that "more research must be done on how
trafficking takes place, who commits it, how demand drives the supply of
services from victims and who falls victim to it and why, and on ways to
discourage demand." Paragraph S states that
"if the demand from potential buyers of the services and products supplied
by victims of trafficking is reduced, thereby also reducing profits from
trafficking in human beings, the supply of such services and goods by victims
will in turn decrease."
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[1][1]Raymond, G. J.,
Prostitution on Demand: Legalizing the buyers as sexual consumers. Coalition
against Trafficking in Women. Violence
Against Women, Vol. 10 No. 10, (October 2004) 1156-1186. see http://action.web.ca/home/catw/readingroom.shtml?x=71055
[2][2] United Nations.
Protocol to prevent, surpress and punish trafficking in persons,
especially women and children, supplementing the United Nations conventions
against transnational organized crime.
(December 2000). 1-71. see 41-53 at http://www.unodc.org/documents/treaties/UNTOC/Publications/TOC%20Convention/TOCebook-e.pdf
[3][3]Council of Europe Convention on action against
trafficking in human beings and it's explanitory report (Warsaw,16.V.2005).
Article 6 (chapter 2)- Measure to discourage demand. See
http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/trafficking/Docs/Convntn/CETS197_en.asp#P222_15185
[4][4] Trafficking in Persons Report, June 2005, US State Department
[5][5] US Department of State (2004)
[6][6]European Parliament. European Parliament Resolution on Preventing Trafficking in Human Beings. (10 February 2010). See http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P7-TA-2010-0021+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN