Address by Political adviser Ruth Stenersen, Ministry for Children and Family Affairs

Flesh for sale

Seminar to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Council of Gender Equality. Helsinki 4.12.02

Ladies and gentlemen,

On behalf of the Nordic Council of Ministers I want to express my pleasure to be here and discuss trafficking in women, which is an issue of increasing concern.

My very first task this morning, is to give the best wishes on behalf of our Minister for Gender Equality Laila Dåvøy. It is a matter of great regret to Ms Dåvøy that she could not be here to congratulate the Finnish Council for Gender Equality. It is a great day for the Council, celebrating its 30th anniversary. It is also a great honour for me as a representative for the Norwegian minister to be here today.

With the focus on trafficking in women, you have chosen to highlight a grim and frustrating issue.

We must face an uncomfortable fact: the Nordic Countries and Western Europe are at the heart of modern slave trade. We need to accept that this problem is also rooted in the Nordic Countries.

There are two driving forces. One is poverty among women in countries of origin. The other is a demand for prostitution in our countries of destination. These two forces coupled with a disregard of human rights of women makes the slave trade possible. Women are poorer than men, have fewer opportunities and due to the imbalance of power, are easier to abuse. I am glad to say that the Nordic countries take this issue very seriously.

The issue of trafficking was placed on the political agenda during the Finnish Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers with the joint Nordic Baltic campaign against trafficking in women. During the Norwegian presidency we have strongly felt the responsibility to follow and implement this important initiative.

It is clear that governments acting individually cannot address this problem adequately. We need global and regional solutions against trafficking. There is a strong need to develop international co-operation in this field and our Nordic -Baltic co-operation is a crucial start.

Last week we marked the end of the campaign in Riga, but it should not or cannot mark the end of our joint efforts against this severe violation of human dignity and human rights.

The aim in the Nordic and Baltic countries has been to rise the awareness of people and initiate a public debate on trafficking in women. The campaign gave us a great opportunity to establish a common Nordic Baltic platform for future joint work.

Information has been produced and spread. One aim was to bring the message to young women and girls. A television programme about the process of recruitment, shows how "nice ladies", "charming men" and "good friends" can be selfish recruiters who want to earn easy money. Trafficked women tell how they became victims and what they have experienced when forced into prostitution. These are similar to the story of Lilja. This kind of information have initiated the public debate and increased the awareness of trafficking in women and children.

Much of the campaign has been focused on the buyers and the demand. It may be unrealistic to hope for an overnight change in the attitudes of men who exploit trafficked women. Still we must aim to change men’s behaviour.

In Norway one of the important issues has been on the ethical guidelines for government employees on business travel, to prevent the procurement and acceptance of sexual services.

I would like to pay attention to a special group, the journalists. Due to their profession they have certain possibilities to create awareness and affecting peoples attitudes. Their role is not just to inform, but also to denounce, to warn society, to provoke reflection and public discussion.

We do however see how the press also can be a channel of publicity of the service for the sex industry and exploiters. It is a fact that some media are more interested in sensation than to report the realism of the story. I have seen newspapers in Norway using dramatic pictures for their reports. A young woman in the street, the photo was close-up of the woman in full body. She was easily recognisable, but the man and his car - or the pimp - were made anonymous.

I would like to draw your attention to this point: the Mafia, the pimp who sold her on the sex-market, first exploited her. Then she was exploited by the customers and last, but not the least - the newspaper used her picture to sell the story. Why did media focus on her and hide the men behind?

Nordic Council of Ministers have during this year brought the issue of trafficking in women and children into the Nordic and Baltic Sea region. Now we have come to the point where it is time to look at the future.

Women should play a prominent part in the development of the strategies because we are the best advocates of our rights.

Let me also focus on the need to support the victims of trafficking. These women first of all need a positive initial response from authorities, like the police force. Free-phone help-line could be a question of life or death. The same applies to access to professional healthcare.

The Swedish Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers will organise a Nordic Russian co-operation project combating trafficking in Northwest Russia next year. All the experience and best practises that have been collected during this Nordic Baltic campaign will be used in planning the activities.

I am also sure that today's anniversary will show that we have achieved basic progress during these 30 years. But at the same time we are facing new and dramatic challenges. Let us use this opportunity - with so much competence and knowledge present - to discuss a strategy that gathers everyone in support of our objective, - to put an end to the modern slave trade !

Any policy response to trafficking must address its root causes. To combat trafficking is to create equal opportunities both for women and men in all countries and societies. I wish the Council the very best for the future. I really hope that 30 more years are not needed to reach the goal of gender equality and of ending .