15th EPP Congress
Our future: A strong Europe
17 - 18 October 2002
Estoril - Portugal

Resolution adopted by the 15th EPP Congress
Trade of women and children

The EPP

A) condemning the trade in human beings, in particular the trade in women, minors and unaccompanied children, as a cruel violation of civil and human rights;
B) offended by the rapidly rising number of people from the Balkans, East and Central Europe and the CIS States particularly Ukraine, Belarus, the Russian Federation, Moldavia, Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, Kossovo and the Slovak Republic, who fall victim to traders in human beings. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimates that the current number of victims of trade in human beings is approximately 700,000 people;
C) considering the enlargement of the European Union and the countries of the Stability Pact and those having Association Agreements with the EU, the EPP underlines the importance of common European policies and best practice in the fight against the trade in human beings and for the protection of victims;
D) appealing to the Candidate States and all third countries in Europe to further intensify their political, constitutional and operational efforts in order to consistently tackle on the one hand, those who trade in human beings and, on the other hand, to urgently assist victims of human trade;
E) emphasising the close link between trade in human beings and migration as a central basis for a common European Migration Policy, which, until now, is only applicable in limited areas;
F) welcomes the interest shown by the Heads of State and Government at the Seville European Council (June 2002) in giving an impetus to addressing this problem which had already been underlined by the Tempere European Council (June 1999)

The EPP

• therefore demands the establishment of "a European task force", dealing with all aspects of legal and illegal migration and the trade in human beings, in particular the exploitation of women, minors and unaccompanied children (CESP, Justice and Internal Affairs, development policy, employment and social policy)
  
• requests the European Commission and the European Council to provide sufficient funding for the fight against illegal migration and the trade in human beings and for support for victims through different available budget lines and Programmes of the EU;
  
• stresses the necessity to intensify the spread of information and awareness amongst the population in Accession States, within the EU and in third countries affected by the issues, as part of a common strategy for the prevention of the trade in human beings and of illegal migration, in order to be able to effectively inform them on the causes, dangers, and impact of illegal migration and of the trade in human beings and of their strategies in the fight to eliminate it,
  
• is optimistic that the Conclusions of the Seville European Council tackling this problem which has implications falling in the domain of the Third Pillar, will constitute a satisfactory starting point in finding a medium-term solution.