End modern day slavery of human trafficking says Euro MP

3.13.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 15th Sep 2005

Liz Lynne MEP met yesterday with the Business Travellers Against Human Trafficking Campaign to encourage the end of human trafficking across national borders. The Campaign is designed to make business travellers around the world aware of the serious problem of human trafficking. For more information, please see www.businesstravellers.org.

The UN estimates that between 600,000 and 800,000 women and children are trafficked across borders every year, and between two and four million people internally.

The problem of human trafficking has hit home in the West Midlands as well. Earlier this year scores of Polish migrants were trafficked into Birmingham for forced labour. As recently as July 2005 the University of Birmingham hosted a two-day conference on woman's rights issues examining human trafficking in the sex trade.

According to the four senior UN officials at the Birmingham conference some 500,000 women have been trafficked into Western Europe in 2000 - nearly 1500 alone into the UK for sexual exploitation.

"The EU must work with Governments as well as local and international NGOs to put an end to this trade. It is also imperative that there is co-operation between developing nations to stop the flow of sex workers across borders. It is in the poorest countries that women are most often taken advantage of, and it is here that we can make the largest improvements. There is also a need for increased training and education of border police.

"I encourage business leaders in the West Midlands not only to alert their staff, but make them aware of the gravity of the situation. Businesspeople who travel for work need to be especially mindful of the problem. Hotel owners, right here in our constituency, can make a positive impact by recognising suspicious circumstances and alerting the authorities. If we address the problem at home, we have the opportunity to help curtail this terrible trade.

"Foreign Governments must be more rigorous in their prosecution of human traffickers. The international community must put pressure on foreign Governments to address the issue of human trafficking within their own borders. Europe has the chance to lead the way in ending human trafficking across the world.

"It is important that sex workers have greater access to affordable legal advice to increase convictions and continued education on HIV/AIDS prevention. NGOs also need increased funding, not only for these areas, but to assist in the rehabilitation of victims."

ENDS.