Seminar on Trafficking and Human Rights, in Oslo 02
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REPORT FROM THE SEMINAR ON TRAFFICKING AND HUMAN RIGHTS OSLO 02.05.05 The seminar was chaired by: Patricia Kaatee, Amnesty International Norway and Liv Jessen, Pro Sentret Rapporteurs: Laila Belle and Arne Randers-Pehrson - 2 - CONTENTS About the Speakers 4 Liv Jessen: Welcome 6 Jon Peder Egenæs: Trafficking and Human Rights 7 Barbara Limanowska: Anti-Trafficking Action in South-Eastern Europa: The Trafficking Cycle and its Impact on Human Rights 11 Questions and Comments 27 Panel Discussion Turid Misje: Towards a Right based Approach to Protect Victims of Trafficking; Protection of Rights of Trafficked Women in Norway 28 Petra Burcikova: Protection of Rights of Trafficked Persons – The Czech Experience 34 Iana Matei: Profile of the Victims 42 Maria Grazia Giammarinaro: Protection of Victims – The Italian Model 45 Beate Gangås: Trafficking and Human Rights - Towards a Right Based Approach to Protect Victims of Trafficking 51 Questions and Comments 65 Helga Konrad: New Challenges in Policy Development in the Fight against Human Trafficking 67 Panel Discussion Trond Prytz: New Challenges in Policy Development – Norway as a Country of Destination 71 Karin Yrvin: Violence against the Society 75 Karin Andersen: New Challenges in Policy Development – Norway as a Country of Destination 80 Rune Berglund Steen: Victims of Trafficking in the Norwegian Asylum Procedure – Experiences and Challenges 85 Cecilia M. Bailliet: New Challenges in Policy Development – Norway as a Destination Country 91 Questions and Comments 99 Lise Bjerkan: Closing Remarks 100 - 3 - ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Jon Peder Egenæs Acting Secretary General, Amnesty International Norway. Barbara Limanowska works as a consultant on the issue of trafficking in human beings for various international agencies. In the framework of the SEE RIGHTs project, which was a joint initiative of OHCHR, UNICEF and OSCE-ODIHR she has written three reports about trafficking in human beings in the Balkan region: Trafficking in Human Beings in South Eastern Europe. Current situation and responses to trafficking in human beings in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova and Romania (UNICEF, UNOHCHR, OSCE/ODIHR, 2002), Trafficking in Human beings in South Eastern Europe. 2003 Update on situation and responses to trafficking in human (UNICEF, UNOHCHR, OSCE/ODIHR, 2003) and Trafficking in Human Beings in South Eastern Europe, 2004 – Focus on Prevention (UNICEF, UNOHCHR, OSCE/ODIHR, 2005). Turid Misje is a trained social worker and a master student in social anthropology. She has worked at the Pro Sentret since 1999. Currently she is coordinating Pro Sentrets work aimed at foreign women in prostitution. Petra Burčíková has a degree in law from Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia. She has three years experience as a lawyer for the Czech Republic Government Council for Human Rights. Currently she is the director and national coordinator of La Strada Czech republic, and a member of the international La Strada Association focusing on prevention of trafficking in human beings and defending the rights of victims. Iana Matei is the president of Reaching Out, Romania. Reaching Out provides assistance in rehabilitation and re/integration to women and children victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation. Priority is given to protecting the rights of the victim and their wellbeing is considered above the interest of all other persons, organisations and governmental agencies. Beate Gangås is Chief of Police at the National Police Directorate of Norway. In 2003 she was appointed leader of the Interpol Working Group on Trafficking in Women and Children for Sexual Exploitation. Maria Grazia Giammarinaro graduated in law at the Department of Civil Law of the University of Palermo in 1986. From 1996 to 2001 she was the head of the Legislative Office of The Minister of Equal Opportunities and drafted Italian legislation concerning women, children, immigration and trafficking in human beings. Currently she is a judge at the criminal court in Rome. She participates in the meetings of the Ad Hoc committee on Action against Trafficking in Humane beings as the scientific expert of the Secretariat of the Council of Europe – Directorate general of Human Rights. - 4 - Dr. Helga Konrad was appointed OSCE Special Representative on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings in May 2004. From 200 to October 2004 she chaired the Stability Pact Task Force on Trafficking in Human Beings for South Eastern Europe, established under the auspices of the OSCE. Dr. Helga Konrad is a former parliamentarian and Federal Minister for Women’s Issues in the Austrian Government Trond Prytz is State Secretary, Ministry of Justice and the Police. He represents the Liberal Party of Norway. Karin Yrvin is the general secretary of Labour Women, an integrated part of the Labour Party. The purpose of the labour women is to put women issues on the party’s agenda, to provide training for women in politics and to encourage the recruitment of women to the party. Karin Andersen is Vice Chairman for the Socialist Left Party in the Parliament and has been a Member of Parliament since 1997. As a parliamentarian she is a member of the enlarged foreign affairs committee and the standing committee in local government. Rune Berglund Steen is the head of NOAS, Norwegian Association of Asylum Seekers. NOAS’s aim is to ensure that every application for asylum receives a thorough, decent and a fair treatment in the Norwegian judicial system. Cecilia M. Bailliet has a combined J.D./M.A. degree from The George Washington University Law School and Elliot School of International Affairs. She is a senior research fellow at the Department of Public and International Law, University of Oslo, where she teaches refugee and asylum law. Her areas of research are refugee law, human rights, international public law and dispute resolution. Lise Bjerkan is Dr. Polit., social anthropologist, and a researcher at Fafo Institute of Applied International Studies. Her key working areas are trafficking, child labour, Roma minorities, gender and peace building. - 5 - WELCOME By Liv Jessen, Director of the Pro Centre Welcome to a conference on trafficking and human rights initiated by Amnesty International Norway and Pro Sentret. My friend Patricia Kaatee from Amnesty and myself Liv Jessen, director of Pro Sentret, will be your moderators for the day. Trafficking in human being for the purpose of prostitution or sex work is a gross violation of people’s human rights. It is our task today to explore what challenges we are up against in this perspective. In the audience will be people who are concerned with questions of trafficking but will never be in contact with a victim of trafficking and you will find other bodies which daily work is right amongst the same. But not one single country, GOs or NGOs can say they have found the answer to the problems concerning trafficking. That’s why I think we shall all have a humble approach, definitely learn from each other’s experience and in a friendly atmosphere debate what paths to follow. Amnesty International Norway and the Pro Centre will emphasize the necessity to put the human rights perspective in the forefront of the struggle against trafficking. We have divided today’s conference into two major sequences with two keynote speakers Barbara Limanowska and Helga Konrad whom we will introduce properly later. Following these speakers will be a panel discussion of 5 different presentations. But let me start by giving the word to Jon Peder Egenæs, Acting Secretary General of Amnesty International Norway who will open the conference. Liv Jessen - 6 - TRAFFICKING AND HUMAN RIGHTS By John Peder Egenæs, Acting Secretary General of Amnesty International Norway First of all I would like to take the opportunity, on behalf of Pro Sentret and Amnesty International Norway, to welcome you all to this seminar on trafficking and human rights. Our stated aim is to influence the growing debate around trafficking and move it from the realm of criminal justice only, and into the realm of human rights. We believe this is important, not only to protect the rights of women and children who are the victims of trafficking and further exploitation, but also to make progress in battling this crime. It seems clear from the experiences from Norway and other countries, that the treatment of trafficked persons as criminals and illegal aliens is counter productive in the work to fight the crime that trafficking is. Towards this dual aim Amnesty International considers the trafficking of women for the purposes of prostitution as one of the most widespread and pervasive forms of violence against women. We identify trafficking as a series of abuses and violations of the human rights of trafficked women and girls, both at the hand s of traffickers and subsequently within the criminal justice system. Amnesty International wishes to add to the growing understanding of trafficking as an abuse of human rights, not least the rights of women and girls to physical and mental integrity, to liberty and security of person, and even their right to life. Trafficking exposes women and girls to a series of human rights abuses at the hands of traffickers, and of those who buy their services. It also renders women and girls vulnerable to violations by governments that fail to protect the human rights of trafficked women. Amnesty International advocates that respect for, and protection of, the rights of trafficked women must be central to the action of all authorities in their responses to trafficking. Trafficking in International Law Trafficking already has its specific place in international law. It is defined in the so called Palermo Protocol and it is recognized as violence against women in The UN declaration on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, and the obligation of states to prevent trafficking is set out in Article 6 of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (the Women’s Convention) as well as in the Convention of the Rights of the Child (Children’s Convention.).