Challenges and priorities
speech by Minister of Justice Odd Einar Dørum,
Yours Excellences,
Members of Parliament,
Representatives of NGOs,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Friends!
I am pleased to give you a short
contribution to our common theme on combating trafficking in human
beings, by taking part in the opening of this seminar, which is the
third during the Nordic-Baltic campaign against trafficking in
women 2002 and also the last one to be arranged during this
campaign period.
Trafficking of women and children
is not a new phenomenon. However, the magnitude, forms and impact
are more alarming than ever before. Every year, hundreds of
thousands of women, men and children become victims of trafficking
in human beings, which is now considered to be the third largest
source of profits for organized crime, behind drugs and guns.
Trafficking of people for prostitution and forced labour seems to
be one of the fastest growing areas of international criminal
activity. Even if trafficking can affect men, the
overwhelming majority of those trafficked are women and children,
most of them for the purpose of prostitution and other sexual
exploitation. The majority of the women and children, mostly girls,
are recruited, transported, marketed and purchased by individual
buyers, pimps, traffickers and members of organized crime networks
within countries and across national borders for the specific
purpose of prostitution and other sexual exploitation in the sex
industry.
We
have heard that it is difficult to provide exact figures
on the extent of the problem, because it is criminal in nature, but
there has been made estimates as high as 700.000 women and children
being moved across international borders by traffickers each
year. Some NGOs estimate the number to be higher, especially
if trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation is
included. And: There have been made estimates of up to
120.000 women and children being trafficked into Western Europe
each year.
No country can afford to ignore
this issue. It is an international problem, - with domestic
implications. In our region – the countries around the Baltic Sea –
trafficking in women and children is of greatest concern. It calls
for a joint action for the future these women and children.
Trafficking for prostitution and other sexual exploitation is one
of the most horrifying examples of violation of Human Rights that
exists in the world today. The women and children are trapped in
slavery like conditions. As some expert has said:”This is modern
slavery: Slaves are cheaper now then they ever were in human
history. ” Trafficking in women and children for the purpose of
sexual exploitation has increased in recent years in parallel to
the development of the sex industry. Trafficking in women and
children contains elements of organized crime, gender inequality,
sexual exploitation, lack of welfare and the need to get out of
poverty and migration. As minister for Justice and Police I can not
accept this form of slave trade. This calls for joint, wide
international co-operation.
I want to express my deepest
contempt for this kind of human degradation. Often we see that
poverty and social marginalisation places women and children in a
situation of vulnerability. Therefore we need to address the issue
of demand of trafficked victims in countries of destination and we
must improve the conditions for women in countries of origin.
Trafficking in women and children is to be considered as sexualised
violence, and gender equality perspectives must be fundamental.
Our national strategy for combat
trafficking is built upon three pillars: Prevention, protection and
prosecution. Norway is a country mostly of destination and
transit, not that much of origin. The police in Norway has
experienced that women are lured into the country by advertising
rich opportunities in branches like work in restaurants, night
clubs, hotels etc. as dancing, entertaining, cleaning.
After arriving in the country, some
are forced into performing different kinds of sexual services.
Therefore, to prevent women and children from being trafficked, it
is necessary to raise the awareness of both the authorities and the
public in countries of origin. For this purpose information
campaigns are very important.
Organised crime
The increasing international
trafficking in women and children is profit motivated and is highly
profitable. Different kinds of criminal networks operate on
this marked. We must fight those criminals. To combat trafficking
in women and children is to combat organised crime.
Trafficking creates criminal economies, operating besides the state
economies and market economies. Persons and criminal
networks involved in trafficking have established an effective
co-operation between the Nordic and the Baltic Countries. So must
we!
This requires a joint approach by
the states, amongst those the states surrounding the Baltic Sea.
The common fight must take place both at the police level and the
level of mutual legal assistance. Examples of open and trusting
co-operation already exist and yield tangible results. The Baltic
Sea Task Force on Organised Crime is a good example. A kind of
co-operation which must be continued, encouraged and extended.
Commercial exploitation of Children
I will shortly refer to the work
done within the Council of Baltic Sea concerning commercial sexual
exploitation of children. A report on this issue, approved of the
meeting of the prime ministers in February 1998 was followed up by
Sweden and Norway as a joint project. This project ended with two
seminars from the Norwegian side: One here in Riga in 2000 and one
in Vilnius in March 2001. The purpose of the seminars was to raise
awareness about commercial sexual exploitation of children in the
respective country and to put forward the ideas to build network
for common concern among people working in this field, within each
country. This would be a way to carry out suitable information and
promote good co-operation between the Nordic and the Baltic
countries. As I see it, this is good ways of building networks
between the Nordic and the Baltic countries. We must take care of
this northern dimension also in our joint efforts in fighting
organised crime and trafficking in human beings.
Legislation
The Penal Code in Norway do not
have a specific article forbidding trafficking in human beings.
However, new legislation on sexual crimes has been adopted. The new
law has strengthened the protection of victims of sexual crimes. It
is forbidden to advertise on sexual services in magazines and
newspapers. The law against child pornography is
strengthened: It is now also a crime to see child porno for payment
via internet -–and it is not a condition that the material is
loaded down.
I will mention that it is a crime
to mislead someone under 18 years of age with the purpose to take
sexual picture of that person as a part of a commercial
portrayal. According to the law, it is also forbidden to
produce such portrayals with a person under 18 years of age.
It is also a crime in Norway to buy
sex from persons under 18 years of age; which means children,
according to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Children. And it
is still a crime to organise prostitution, to rent out house or
accommodation for prostitution.
This, I believe, is in accordance
with the UN Protocol on Trafficking in Persons, especially Women
and Children. Norway has signed both the Convention against
Transnational Organised Crime and the protocols thereto.
Norway has started the work to ratify the convention and the
protocol, hopefully next year. From the Norwegian side we think
that the protocols both on trafficking, and on illegal smuggling as
well, are important new instruments. It will allow countries
to undertake in-depth measures to combat smuggling of migrants and
the buying and selling of women and children for sexual
exploitation. The protocol on trafficking needs to be implemented
in each country. The purposes of the protocol are:
- to prevent and combat trafficking in persons
- to protect and assist the victims of such trafficking
- to promote co-operation among States Parties in order to
meet these objectives.
The second theme in the UN Protocol
is the protection and support of victims. I think we have a
particular responsibility for those women and children who are
victims or potential victims of trafficking. These women and
children should be considered as victims of crime, and therefore be
given appropriate protection and assistance in the country of
destination.
Where there is a serious
transnational criminality, there is also a need to allow people
whose evidence is required to remain in Norway in order to assist
the police and the prosecutor in their investigation. We have to
consider carefully if it is necessary to incorporate a special
provision into the law in order to give a residence permit of
limited duration with the purpose also to conclude an investigation
or the main proceedings in a criminal case.
The protocol has a definition of
trafficking which I think is most suitable for the Norwegian
policy. In my opinion this protocol will be a useful tool for the
co-operation in this region in combating trafficking as a form of
organised crime and to promote measures for protecting and helping
victims of such trafficking.
In preparing for ratification of
the Palermo-protocol the Ministry of Justice and the Police will
propose to the Parliament a new law against trafficking in human
beings.
In implementing the Palermo
protocol and thus making this document an important reference for
our future work to combat trafficking in women and children I
believe that Norway has a more solid platform for international
co-operation in this field.
Equally important is to put theory
into action.
Therefore to conclude, I strongly
believe that in raising public awareness about trafficking in human
beings through events such as this conference, we are upholding the
principle that human rights are indivisible. I hope this
conference will be of importance in promoting a closer co-operation
on all levels with the aim to be able to break the trafficking
chain of recruiters, transporters, exploiters, intermediaries and
clients.
Thank you for your attention.