Trafficking from the Frin

14 July 2020

Petition:

We the undersigned MEPs express our concern about the latest report entitled “Trafficking from the Fringes of Europe to the Middle East,” published by the human rights organisation International UN Watch in cooperation with the University of Florence, the anti-trafficking pan-European platform La Strada, and the Mediterranean Migration Observatory. We are appalled and aghast that victims of sex-trafficking from Europe are treated as criminals, treated without dignity, and re-victimised.

We call on EU member states and the European Parliament to address the issues raised by this report and take steps to disrupt human trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation and, specifically, from Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova) to the Middle East, and particularly the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

To this end:

■ We call on the European Commission and the European Council to revoke visa-free access to the Schengen zone, unless and until UAE and source countries cooperate fully with international authorities in the fight against trafficking. ■ We call on the UAE and other Gulf countries to end the Kafala (sponsorship) migration system that favours abusive employment practices. ■ We call for the creation of a special sex-trafficking prevention fund, in which money confiscated from trafficking networks and organised crime will be channeled to support women from countries that do not have the resources to offer legal or consular support. ■ We call on the European Commission to propose additional instruments for the fight against money laundering from sex-trafficking activities, creating a specialised task force. Countries that have an appalling track- record in the fight against trafficking, such as the UAE, should be expected to draw up specific action plans to fight money-laundering practices related to trafficking. ■ We call on the EU to create protocols of referral that are easily accessible to victims, in cooperation with Airlines, Airports, and Ports. ■ We urge the External Action Service and the Council of the European Union to apply pressure on UAE authorities to crack down on human trafficking and money laundering from sex-trafficking activity and create a list of counter-measures from countries that fail to meet a predefined

benchmark of human rights protection afforded to victims of sex- trafficking. ■ We call on the EU to work with major source-immigration countries to monitor abusive practices that can be likened to human trafficking to adequately train law enforcement, diplomatic, and transport/logistics personnel to disrupt sex-trafficking.

Undersigned:

1. Thierry Mariani MEP