The Nordic-Baltic Campaign against Trafficking in Women and Children, Riga 27. November

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.