For children, their rights, and equitable development

Statement

How Trafficked Children are exploited in Europe

EU Forum on the prevention of organised crime Roundtable: “EU action against child trafficking and related forms of exploitation”

organised by the

European Commission Directorate-General Justice and Home Affairs

Brussels 26th of May 2004, Borschette Centre

Dr. Boris Scharlowski Mr. Salvatore Parata

Co-ordination International Campaign against Child Trafficking International Federation Terre des Hommes

Mister Chair, dear representatives of European States and European Institutions, dear representatives from international organisations, dear colleagues from non-governmental organisations,

I would like to start by thanking the European Commission, DG Justice and Home Affairs for inviting the International Federation Terre des Hommes and its International Campaign against Child Trafficking to take part in this Forum. The fact that my organisation has been invited to take the floor in this forum to discuss the problem of child trafficking in Europe and to present our recommendations in favour of the victims, gives a clear positive signal. Through your invitation to this discussion among experts, you are making an important contribution to putting a stop to the trafficking in human beings. You are also contributing to giving the victims hope of a better future.

As Co-ordinator of the International Campaign against Child Trafficking I intend to explain how trafficked children are exploited in Europe. Following this I would like to go on to give you some impressions of Terre des Hommes projects in Albania and Greece. Finally I will describe our main recommendations to the European Commission and European Parliament. In view of the time constraint I will only be able to offer you an overview of these issues.

How Trafficking in Children is occurring in Europe

According to estimates made by international organisations, at least one million children per year become victims of trafficking. As a global phenomenon, Europe does not escape this crime; approximately 120,000 women and children per year, from the states of Southern and alone, are brought into the former member states of the EU according to the OSCE and the UNHCR. The EU Commission assumes that considerably more people are actually affected: it estimates that 500,000 women and children per year are brought into the EU Member States only for purposes of sexual exploitation. As stated by the Council of Europe, all 45 member states – without exception – are affected by the phenomenon of child trafficking.

According to IOM however, data about child trafficking in Europe is only recorded in the 15 former EU member states. There are no uniform registration methods in individual countries or at the international level. This leads to a considerable loss of reliable data. Furthermore most information is about trafficking, mainly in women, for the purpose of sexual abuse. Minors are often not covered separately in these statistics; many times other forms of exploitation don’t figure at all.

So what do we understand by trafficking in children, what are the factors that promote this severe violation of human rights, how does child trafficking operate, where does it take place, who is affected by it and how?

The International Federation Terre des Hommes and the International Campaign against Child Trafficking stick to the definition as presented by the 'United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime' and its supplementary ‘Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children’ (the so called ‘Palermo Trafficking Protocol’). According to these two documents child trafficking is always linked to a form of direct exploitation of the victim. These are namely all forms of:

• sexual exploitation (including prostitution and pornography), EU Forum on prevention of organised crime Page 2 of 9 Brussels, 26 May 2004.

• slave-labour and bonded labour, • illegal activities such as stealing and drug trafficking, • begging or selling items on the black market, • and the trafficking in organs.

The trafficking of organs and passing minors on to the international commercial adoption trade are other forms of trafficking in children but we shall focus on the forms of exploitation mentioned above.

There are specific factors that promote this serious crime. In Eastern Europe, the glaring economic imbalance between the dispatching countries and the recipient countries, ethnic conflicts, persecution and discrimination against minorities, high unemployment and high crime rates as well as the lack of legal security provide a fertile breeding ground for the exploitation of trafficked children. One of the most important direct causes is the growing demand for services victims of trafficking are forced to offer.

Human beings are trafficked mainly from poorer countries to richer ones. In Western Europe according to the OSCE trafficked women and girls come from the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic States as well as from Albania, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Belarus, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, the states of the former Yugoslavia, Moldavia, and Georgia. But minors equally come from countries in (for example Nigeria and Sierra Leone), Asia (for instance China, Afghanistan and ) and (for example Colombia). Destination countries are primarily the , Belgium, , , Austria, , , , Greece, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

This form of trafficking in human beings is significantly fostered by intermediaries. Whether they are distant members of the family, independent agents or even organised gangs, the traffickers always make use of the widespread ignorance of the people affected. They promise education and prosperity; instead of this the victims find nothing but exploitation and misery. Traffickers adapt their methods and trade routes flexibly. This makes the prosecution much more difficult.

Trafficking in children and their subsequent exploitation promises almost all the people involved – and there is no way to make this sound less cynical - high returns at a very low investment. On a global level according to the UN the trafficking in human beings is, after drug and arms trafficking, the third biggest illegal business activity. In Europe alone assesses the profits from human trafficking at several billion US dollars a year. To give an example: as stated by the OSCE and the UNHCR the price of a woman on the market of Timisoara in Romania is about 45 to 175 Euro. In a country of destination it is ten times as much. The sale of children frequently opens the door to other illegal economic activities in adjoining fields – be it drug trafficking or prostitution. The flourishing business makes child trafficking increasingly attractive for new groups that often include Government employees.

The victims are children, so below the age of 18. They often come from broken homes, are poorly educated and have no personal or professional prospects. Many children are left to themselves. Their abysmal material situation forces them and their parents to wonder about which alleged offers of help could be accepted. Neither the children nor their parents have sufficient information to see through the deceptive promises made by the potential trafficker. Often the families expect their children to support them financially from abroad.

According to IOM child trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation is steadily increasing. Children ‘trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation’ covers a multitude of different cases, with some children being held in permanent captivity and subjected to repeated rape and others unrestricted in their freedom of movement and themselves choosing to continue earning money through commercial sex. While paying for sexual EU Forum on prevention of organised crime Page 3 of 9 Brussels, 26 May 2004.

intercourse with children is the main form of commercial sexual exploitation, the arrival of the Internet has seen an explosion in the demand for pornography, including child pornography. Children suffer all sorts of harmful effects from unprotected sex, such as HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections. One of the most difficult after-effects to combat is the stigma suffered principally by girls who are known or believed to have been exploited for commercial sex. As related by in Albania up to 80 percent of the people smuggled out of the country are under 18. Traffickers lure women and children with false promises about marriage or jobs abroad. The baits are often offered by friends or relatives. In Italy there are between 20 000 and 30 000 foreign prostitutes. Social organisations estimate that 16 to 30 percent of prostitutes are minors. The majority of the girls come from Albania, Nigeria and Moldavia. Girls of these nationalities are increasingly to be found in Belgium and the Netherlands as well. According to the French Comité Contre l’Esclavage Moderne, Spain is becoming more and more a destination country for trafficked women and girls. Of course this form of exploitation of children is currently found in all other European countries.

There is hardly any valid data about human trafficking for the purpose of exploitation through work. Still too little is known about the type of work done by minors in the countries of destination. But one knows that in Europe many trafficked children are kept in slavery-like or bonded-labour-like situations. They cannot leave their employer, either because they have been abducted and are held captive, or because their parents have accepted a payment in advance from a trafficker. Some children are trafficked into jobs that are particularly hazardous. Sometimes this happens because employers specifically want malleable youngsters to do such work. Sometimes this is due to the fact that, once trafficked into a country where they have no legal status or are not entitled to work, the children can only work in jobs where they have no legal protection. According to IOM, trafficked children in France, mainly from China, work in sweat-shops. In Belgium, some children have to work in sweat-shops too while others are obliged to work in restaurants.

Minors are put to work in various other illegal ways, to earn money for the adults who control them. Recently reported cases show that many Romanian children trafficked to Germany, France and Italy are forced to take part in burglaries and other activities organised by criminal gangs. Other children from Eastern European countries are recruited and trafficked for example to Spain, and France especially to earn money for others by begging. In Italy and Greece children end up in the informal economy having to earn money equally as beggars, street-dealers or car-window cleaners.

Employing a teenager as a domestic servant, either to live in the employer’s residence or while still living at home, is another way of exploiting children. These minors are trafficked into domestic work and unable to leave or assert their rights once they have been placed with an employer. In Switzerland, Belgium and France children work as domestics for diplomats from the same country of origin.

As stated above, a large variety of other forms of exploitation of trafficked children also exist. In Europe these are trafficking for commercial adoption and for the extraction of organs. While commercial adoption involves dynamics other than those involved in the forms of exploitation already discussed, there is little reliable evidence to suggest organ trafficking is widespread. While a certain amount of evidence does exist in relation to trafficking in organs, this is the principal form of exploitation that poor families in many developing cities have heard of and fear, even in the absence of evidence. The information available suggests that, while cases occur, it is much less common than popular fears suggest.

In all cited cases the elementary rights of the children fall by the wayside. Once in the clutches of the child traffickers, they are robbed of their young identity – often the children lose all memory of their background, some even forget their names. Instead of finding a solid foundation for their lives, they are physically and psychologically exploited to the maximum. EU Forum on prevention of organised crime Page 4 of 9 Brussels, 26 May 2004.

They may not even get sufficient food. Many of them fall ill, some die, often due to incurable diseases. Even after their long-awaited return the victims do not expect a warm welcome. On the contrary, sexually exploited children in particular are considered to be dishonoured in certain cultures and they are not readily accepted back into the family circle. The fact that large parts of the jurisprudence and the executive in the dispatching countries as well as in the recipient countries continue to look upon the children as offenders instead of as victims makes it difficult to bring the children back into their society of origin and reintegrate them responsibly while taking due care to preserve their dignity.

From grass roots work to international campaigns: Terre des Hommes’ experience

An International approach Taking into consideration these harsh violation of human and child’s rights the International Federation Terre des Hommes started an International Campaign against Child Trafficking in Autumn 2001. This campaign follows an integrated approach including awareness raising activities, advocacy work towards relevant institutional actors and field programmes. The programmes focus on prevention, protection, voluntary assisted repatriation and rehabilitation of trafficked children. Campaign activities are being carried out in 36 different countries. Over 900 partner organisations throughout the world are contributing to the campaign’s success and the achievement of its aims. In addition, famous personalities, such as the Nobel Prize Winners Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu as well as the internationally recognised expert for children's rights and former First Lady of , Graça Machel, support these aims.

The case of trafficked children from Albania By the end of the late 1990s the Terre des Hommes started running a field programme focused on the trafficking of Albanian children towards the EU, particularly to Greece and Italy. This programme is dedicated to preventing endangered children being trafficked and to giving support to the victims. In 2002 Terre des Hommes received the Human Rights Award of the French Republic for this project. As an international development NGO specialised in the rights of the child Terre des Hommes is interested in sharing its expertise with other actors. This is why it seems appropriate and legitimate to present some key elements and some lessons drawn from this European field experience.

Lesson 1: Trafficking is a complex and evolving issue Trafficking encompasses a highly complex and diversified nature. In Albania, like many other countries, poverty and long-term unemployment are root factors which open the door to organised crime and trafficking. However, the economic and social vulnerability of families is not sufficient to explain why trafficking in children occurs in this country. Specific social and cultural features of the Albanian context have to be considered as root causes. These are:

• a high rate of long-term family indebtedness which puts basic needs at risk, • dysfunctional family contexts (alcoholism, family breakdown, divorces), • low educational backgrounds, • the role of the child in the most vulnerable groups of the Albanian society: very often, children are seen as potential income generators and feel themselves obliged to ensure a part of the family economy, • growing societal acceptance that certain forms of exploitation of minors may be necessary to sustain the familial economy, • an important concentration of high risk groups in the poorest suburban zones of the main cities.

EU Forum on prevention of organised crime Page 5 of 9 Brussels, 26 May 2004.

Furthermore, the complexity of trafficking cannot be understood if the ‘demand’ factors are neglected. Better wages and working conditions abroad work as important pull factors. Being disposed to leave their family and hometown increases the vulnerability of potential victims. In that perspective, trafficking as to be seen also in the general framework of migration dynamics. Furthermore, impunity and corruption environment in which traffickers used to act has clearly decreased in Albania thanks to concrete efforts undertaken by the Albanian authorities to fight against corruption.

Lesson 2: Trafficked children suffer various forms of victimisation along the trafficking chain Albanian children who are victims of trafficking suffer various kinds of harm:

• The recruitment and the “deal” between the parents and the trafficker is generally done under threats or against the wish of the minor. The consent of the victim is irrelevant, as the child is put under pressure and not fully informed about his or her destiny. • The transportation and passing of the frontiers is highly hazardous as children may become victims of police forces’ violence, directly or through dog attacks. • To ensure full dependency traffickers generally use physical or psychological violence. • In the country of destination (mainly Greece and Italy) Albanian children are primarily exploited for begging, sale of small items, illicit activities, drug trafficking and sexual exploitation (prostitution). • Victims may also suffer violent treatment by police forces. • Once put in jail adult prisoners may develop a violent attitude towards the minors (sexual offences etc.). • Cases are reported where residential homes did not offer a sufficiently secure stay and where ex-victims suffered further harm. • Compulsory repatriation and deportation frequently leads to new exploitation. Albanian children simply dropped at the border by the authorities easily become targeted again by traffickers. • Once rescued and repatriated, victims of trafficking often suffer social victimisation, especially when victims have been sexually exploited.

Lesson 3: A complex issue needs a complex, progressive and non-standardised response. The complexity, flexibility and peculiarity of such a modus operandi requires complex and specific responses. Through a multi-annual programme, Terre des Hommes Foundation in and its partners in Albania (UNICEF; USAID; SIDA-Swedish International Cooperation Agency, the OAK Foundation; the National Albanian American Council); in Greece (ARSIS) and in Italy are trying to build and implement an adequate response based on the following two axes:

Primary prevention: This form of prevention does not consist of simply informing vulnerable groups about the risks of trafficking. Primary prevention also includes such aspects as combating school truancy, realising information campaigns in schools and ensuring an institutional child protection policy. These aspects of course must rely on the implementation of public policies which secure the access to basic rights, such as education, minimum living standards, housing and health. The media also play an important role in the prevention process through raising awareness.

Secondary prevention: This form of prevention refers to the need to react in advance to foreseeable political and societal developments which may harm the vulnerable population. The Olympic Games in Athens in August 2004 may serve as an example. During the Games a high number of tourists and visitors is expected to come to Greece. This will encourage trafficking networks to bring an even higher number of children into the country. Terre des

EU Forum on prevention of organised crime Page 6 of 9 Brussels, 26 May 2004.

Hommes has already taken some action to alert the public, travel agencies, tourists, Olympic committees, athletes and authorities about the risk of a crude violation of children’s rights during the Games. But as a single NGO cannot ensure an adequate response, co-ordinated action is needed. Thus Terre des Hommes supports a declaration issued by Greek NGOs which calls for a substantial collaboration between police authorities, social services and NGOs active in the streets in Greece to ensure proper protection and a voluntary assisted return if this responds to the of the child. Furthermore, Terre des Hommes also invites European authorities and institutions to raise awareness among the European population to stop citizens passively contributing to the exploitation of children. Finally, a bilateral agreement between Albania and Greece defining the conditions of the overall process of protection, voluntary repatriation of victims and rehabilitation must be signed and implemented in the best interests of the child. A draft of such an Agreement has been recently prepared and officially released by the Albanian Government to the Greek Government for consultation and approval. As a good example of collaboration between state and non-state actors, this Agreement has been prepared in full collaboration with the Albanian inter-NGO coalition BTKF.

Protection of victims, rehabilitation, voluntary assisted return and multi-actor co- ordinated action Full collaboration between authorities, police forces, custom services, legal and judicial institutions, social services and NGOs is a key element if a proper protection, voluntary assisted return and rehabilitation process is to be ensured. Such a co-ordination would create practice standards shared by all actors.. A voluntary assisted return, seen as the best solution in order to start an adequate rehabilitation process of victims, has to be safe, legal, quick, and prepared with the child and his/her family, in full compliance with the requirements of the Child Rights Convention. Rehabilitation actions include education reintegration of victims, social and psychological assistance for victim families. Most of the time (near 100%), reintegration in origin families are possible and successful in Albania. A system of host families can be an alternative in case origin families constitute a risk for victims. In order to secure the implementation of such a practice, bilateral agreements between the involved governments have to be put into force.

Last and general lesson: The case of Albania shows that generic definitions, standard policies and declarations of commitments must be shared by all actors involved in combating trafficking. It also shows that balanced responses (fight against corruption and victim assistance) can lead to successful solutions. Nevertheless it is of primary importance that the phenomenon of child trafficking be considered according to the specific context in which it happens. This includes the adaptation of initiatives to different national and cultural contexts, the development of appropriate measures to determine what is happening in practice and a full co-ordinated approach between all actors involved, whether they are state or non-state actors.

Recommendations

In view of this crime and the serious violations of human rights which accompany it and on the basis of its direct intervention in field programmes, the International Federation Terre des Hommes and the International Campaign against Child Trafficking make the following recommendations:

Apply international instruments in full compliance with the best interest of the child • It is essential that the well-being of the child is at the heart of all measures introduced by the European Union. In the context of combating trafficking in human beings and children, all EU-relevant political instruments as well as accompanying measures must be reviewed with regard to this fundamental principle. EU Forum on prevention of organised crime Page 7 of 9 Brussels, 26 May 2004.

• In this context the 'UN-CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD', the 'HAGUE CONVENTION ON PROTECTION OF CHILDREN AND CO-OPERATION IN RESPECT OF INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTION' and the 'ILO-CONVENTION CONCERNING THE PROHIBITION AND IMMEDIATE ACTION FOR THE ELIMINATION OF THE WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOUR' have to be applied and implemented without any restrictions whatsoever as far as victims of child trafficking are concerned. • Particularly in the implementation of the 'UNITED NATIONS CONVENTION AGAINST TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME' and its supplementary ‘PROTOCOL TO PREVENT, SUPPRESS AND PUNISH TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS, ESPECIALLY WOMEN AND CHILDREN’ (Palermo Trafficking Protocol) by EU member states, the best interests of the child have to be guaranteed. • At EU level, the ‘EU COUNCIL DECISION FRAMEWORK ON COMBATING TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS (19 July 2002)’ as well as of the 'BRUSSELS DECLARATION ON PREVENTING AND COMBATING TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS' must be implemented in full compliance with the specific provisions related to the vulnerability of children as stated in the Palermo Trafficking Protocol. Trafficking in children should be clearly defined in all legal and other non-binding EU document.

Increase the victims' right to protection • The struggle against child trafficking is not to be negotiated exclusively under the aspect of internal security purposes. In addition to the co-ordination of national laws and the optimisation of criminal prosecution, the specific need for protection of the victims has to be particularly taken into account. Here the investigation authorities and security authorities responsible for foreign subjects as well as the institutions in charge of the implementation of the immigration policies must be especially sensitised and trained towards the reality of trafficking in human beings. • The EU asylum legislation must be adapted to correspond to the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Child-specific reasons for fleeing a country or applying for asylum must be recognised. Also children who are being persecuted organisations other than the state must be granted asylum. Hearing procedures and asylum procedures have to be conducted in a form which is suitable for children. • Victims of child trafficking must be given a proper residence permit for the duration of their stay in the territory of a member state of the EU. • Children who have been victims of child trafficking must be able to benefit fully from the support measures for children and young people which are available in their country of residence, and also be able to live in accommodation which is suitable for children. A guardianship arrangement must be made immediately for all refugees who are unaccompanied minors. • If trafficked children can not be guaranteed a safe future in their country of origin, be it within or without the EU, they are to be granted suitable prospects in a member state of the EU. In addition to the measures already mentioned, this should include in particular unlimited access to medical and therapeutic care, the right to attend school and, if applicable, the necessary work permit.

Improve co-ordination and monitoring in Europe • The EU Commission is called upon to establish a co-ordination and monitoring unit, e.g. under the format of an EU Representative or Commissioner on the Rights of the Child, whose mandate would fully include the issue of child trafficking. This person should contribute to making the criminal facts in relation to child trafficking sufficiently well-known to the public. That would also enable concrete co-ordination of the EU and Member States policies and actions in the fight against child trafficking aiming at ensuring the best interest of the victims.

EU Forum on prevention of organised crime Page 8 of 9 Brussels, 26 May 2004.

• A special task force for trafficking in children should be established under the auspices of the EU Representative or Commissioner on the Right’s of the Child to ensure that the special needs of trafficked children are included in all other related politics. • The EU Parliament is invited to set up a ‘Sub-committee on Children’s Rights’. This committee should guarantee that children’s rights – in particular those of trafficked children – are a political priority in all spheres of the EU. This Sub-Committee would also support a broader informal working group of MEPs who would ensure that the Rights of the Child are mainstreamed and become fully part of the political agenda within all the European Parliament fora. • Criminal statistics must be kept on the subject of child trafficking.

Fight the causes which are of primary importance • The EU and Member States’ external aid policies need an integrated approach especially in the field of development co-operation, poverty eradication and migration policies. These have to be reviewed and implemented in full compliance with human rights standards in beneficiary countries which are countries of origin of trafficked children. In this context Terre des Hommes urges the EU to implement the ‘20/20 initiative’ set-up at the 1995 World Social Summit in Copenhagen, according to which the donor countries should spend 20 percent of their means and the receiver countries 20 percent of their entire budget for fundamental social services. Equally the implementation of the fundamental ‘Millennium Goal’, according to which the proportion of absolute poverty in the world population is to be halved by 2015, must be given renewed priority.

As the co-ordinator of the International Campaign against Child Trafficking I invite you to work with us to combat child trafficking. Let us stop this despicable crime from gaining further ground! Join us as we try to make this world more humane for our children!

Thank you for your interest.

Dr. Boris Scharlowski Co-ordinator International Campaign against Child Trafficking

EU Forum on prevention of organised crime Page 9 of 9 Brussels, 26 May 2004.