Activities of Louis MICHEL related to 2015/2340(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
The fight against trafficking in human beings in the EU's external relations (A8-0205/2016 - Barbara Lochbihler) FR
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the fight against trafficking in human beings in the EU’s external relations
Amendments (49)
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Recital A (new)
Recital A (new)
A. Whereas illegal migration flows increase the risks of trafficking since irregular migrants - by virtue of their vulnerability and clandestinity - are particularly at risk of being trafficked; whereas, among these migrants, unaccompanied minors - who account for a large share of the migrants arriving in Europe - are a target group for trafficking networks; whereas, according to Europol, 10 000 of them have already disappeared;
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Recital B (new)
Recital B (new)
B. Whereas, according to Europol, the spread of internet access throughout the world allows trafficking to flourish more in the online environment; whereas this brings new forms of recruitment and exploitation of victims;
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion
Recital C (new)
Recital C (new)
C. Whereas there is a link between the trafficking in migrants and trafficking in human beings; whereas people-trafficking networks rely, inter alia, on the internet to advertise their services to potential migrants;
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion
Recital D (new)
Recital D (new)
D. Whereas cooperation between Member States, Europol and the countries of origin and transit of trafficking victims is an essential tool in the fight against trafficking networks;
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph -1 (new)
Paragraph -1 (new)
1a. Calls for Member States to implement Directive 2011/36/EC, as well as all relevant legal frameworks on THB, without any delay; urges the Commission to take legal actions against neglecting Member States;
Amendment 14 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Insists on the need for the EU to enhance police and judicial cooperation between Member States and with third countries, in the investigation and prosecution of trafficking in human beings (THB)particular the countries of origin and transit of the victims of trafficking in human beings (THB), in the investigation and prosecution of THB, in particular via Europol and Eurojust, including information sharing, participation in Joint Investigation Teams and in combating recruitment of people for THB through the internet and other digital means; stresses the importance of the systematic exchange of data by Member States and their input into Europol's databases Focal Point Phoenix and Focal Point Twins;
Amendment 15 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Calls for all the EU institutions and the Member States to placeursue a coherent policy both internally and externally by placing human rights at the centre of the EU’s relations with all third countries;
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 36 a (new)
Citation 36 a (new)
– having regard to Article 5 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights,
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 36 b (new)
Citation 36 b (new)
– having regard to its resolution of 17 December 2015 on the Annual Report on Human Rights and Democracy in the World 2014 and the European Union’s policy on the matter,
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Notes with great concern that, according to the International Labour Organisation, arboundt 21 million men, women and children around the world are in apeople around the world are victims of the most widespread forms of modern slavery, including forced sexual exploitationlabour, organ trafficking and forced sexual exploitation, men are no exception but the most vulnerable groups, such as the elderly, women, the sick, the people with disabilities and children, are more widely affected, with an estimated 5.5 million children being trafficked;
Amendment 20 #
– having regard to the Europol report, the European Situation Report: Trafficking in human beings in the EU (February 2016),
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas trafficking in human beings (THB), which forms part of organised crime, constitutes one of the worst forms of human rights abuses, as it turnreduces human beings into commodities, is geared to robbing people of their dignity and integrity, causes serious and lifelong harm to victims and deliberately misuses the situations of vulnerability in which people find themselves and from which they hope to escape, and gives the victims no choice but to put up with the abuse;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas trafficking in human beings is defined by the United Nations (Palermo Protocol) as the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harbouring or receiving persons by means of the threat or use of force or other forms coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation; whereas the exploitation includes, at a minimum, the exploitation of theforced prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, including child slavery with the purpose of child soldiers, servitude or the removal of organs;
Amendment 25 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Believes that trafficking victims from third countries must be detected at the earliest possible stage in the network and that greater efforts must therefore be made at the borders to detect victims as they enter the EU; Urges the Commission and the Member States to ensure that law enforcement personnel, including agencies such as Frontex, are provided with adequate training in THB, with an emphasis on the special needs of trafficked women, children and other vulnerable groups and on how to provide incentives and adequate protection for victims of THB and for others to report traffickers; emphasises in this regard the importance of exchanges of best practices between the authorities of Member States in particular regarding the conduct of interviews at borders in the context of both legal migration (customs officers) and irregular migration (hotspots in particular); stresses also the need for border guards and coastguards to have access to Europol's databases;
Amendment 29 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Condemns the illicit business of human trafficking, human trafficking for removal of organs and any other exploitative business related to violating the right to bodily integrity and inflicting violence and opposing the principle of non- commercialisation of human beings and their bodies;
Amendment 30 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 – subparagraph 1 (new)
Paragraph 4 – subparagraph 1 (new)
; Stresses the importance and the impending nature of the crisis of climate migrants and the strong likelihood of their falling victim of people trafficking, jeopardising their physical, psychological or moral integrity, which shows how urgent it is to define the legal status of 'climate migrants' in particular;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas the ILO estimates that there are around 21 million people in forced labourre is a statistical consensus that many people are victims of HTB globally, being trafficked for labour and, sexual exploitation or being held in slave-like conditions and; whereas of these people 14.2 million were trapped in forced labour, 4.5 million in a situation of forced sexual exploitation, and 2.2 million in state-imposed forced labour; whereaswomen and girls make up 70% of the total detected victims, while men and boys account for 30% 1a; _________________ 1a- from the UNODC Global report 2014, page 29 – 49% women and, 21% girls make up 55% of the total, while men and boys account for 45%;, 18% men, 12% boys. "Detected" is the word used in the UN report
Amendment 35 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Calls on the Commission to assess the need to review the mandate of the future European Public Prosecutor’s Office to include powers, once established, to tackle human trafficking;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas human trafficking is one of the most profitable and most rapidly growing organised criminal activities in the world, alongside the trade in illegal drugs and arms;
Amendment 41 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Ea. whereas THB and people smuggling are regrettably not a transient phenomenon and may even increase further in years to come because conflict zones, repressive regimes or hopeless economic situations around the world are breeding grounds for the criminal activities of traffickers in human beings and people smugglers;
Amendment 41 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Stresses the importance of the principle of mutual recognition as a fundamental pillar in the proper functioning of the EU; Calls on the Commission and Member States to strengthen the status of victims of trafficking through mutual recognition of judicial and administrative decisions and legislative measures;
Amendment 44 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)
Recital F a (new)
Fa. whereas THB takes various forms and involves both legal and illegal economic activities;
Amendment 55 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Stresses that people trafficked for organ removal face particular challenges, and that victims are often unaware of the long-term and debilitating medical consequences of organ removal and lack of post-operative care as well as the psychological impact of the operation, in particular women illicitly trafficked in order to harvest their ova for commercial purposes; calls, therefore, to better inform and raise the awareness of victims with regard to the physical and psychological risks they run;
Amendment 59 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Takes the view that trafficking victims have an essential role to play as witnesses in dismantling networks; stresses the importance of ensuring the effective protection of victims so that they can testify safely;
Amendment 61 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Denounces the recent disappearance of 10.000 unaccompanied child refugees recently disappeared who, according to Europol, might be now victims of organised trafficking mafias and forced into sex and labour slavery;
Amendment 64 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Observes that the internet and social networks are increasingly being used by criminal networks to recruit and exploit victims; calls on the EU and Member States, therefore, in their efforts to combat THB, to invest enough in technology and expertise to identify, trace and combat misuse of the internet by criminal networks, both to recruit victims and to offer services whose aim is to exploit victims;
Amendment 68 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Underscores the critical distinction that needs to be made between the concepts of trafficking in human beings and migrant smuggling, which require different legal and practical responses and involve different state obligations; observes, however, that, in addition to THB, people smuggling is also among the activities of criminal networks and organised crime;
Amendment 68 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Points out the importance of the role of doctors, nurses, social workers and other medical professionals, who are mostly the first contact points for victims; notes the need to train the medical community to detect the warning signs of human trafficking;
Amendment 68 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Recalls that before concluding a visa liberalization agreement, the Commission assesses the risks posed by the third country concerned particularly with regard to illegal immigration; emphasises that the trafficking networks may also use legal channels for migration; asks the Commission therefore to include the effective cooperation of the relevant third countries with regard to trafficking among the criteria to be met for any visa liberalization agreement;
Amendment 69 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 – subparagraph 1 (new)
Paragraph 9 – subparagraph 1 (new)
; Stresses the pressing need for campaigns to raise awareness on organ donation and provide information on organ transplants;
Amendment 69 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Encourages Member States to strengthen the protection and rights of victims of THB before, during and after the criminal proceedings; Urges the Members States to take into account specific needs, cultural context and other relevant factors when determining assistance; calls for Member States to strengthen their family reunification policy for victims of THB, particularly where this is required for their protection;
Amendment 75 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6b. Calls for Member States to pay special attention to vulnerable groups exposed to forced begging, such as Roma, and take this into consideration in the national context of the Roma integration strategies;
Amendment 76 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 – subparagraph 1 (new)
Paragraph 10 – subparagraph 1 (new)
Invites Member States, the Commission and Europol to work together as one to develop tools to neutralise the activities of traffickers on the Internet;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Considers it essential that strategies aimed at the prevention of THB address the factors and circumstances facilitating THB;
Amendment 77 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)
Paragraph 6 b (new)
6b. Calls on the Commission to evaluate the use of internet in the context of human trafficking, particularly as regards online sexual exploitation; requests that the fight against online trafficking be enhanced by Europol within the framework of the EU IRU (Internet Referral Unit) to detect, report and remove online material on trafficking;
Amendment 78 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 c (new)
Paragraph 6 c (new)
6c. Asks the Commission to adjust its cooperation with third countries to the new development of trafficking via the Internet; calls on the Commission and Europol to consider the possibilities of cooperation between the European anti- cybercrime bodies (especially in the framework of Europol) and those of third countries; requests also the Commission to consider all useful means of cooperation with Internet service providers to detect and combat trafficking-related online content; requests the Commission to keep Parliament duly informed;
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Is of the view that financial investigations, which trace, seize and recover criminal assets, and action against money laundering play a crucial role in combating trafficking; calls on the EU and its Member States to step up their efforts in the field of financial investigations and to reinforce cooperation, coordination and sharing of information with third countries to tracklocate and confiscate the proceeds from those criminal activities;
Amendment 82 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Calls on governments to exercise due diligence in tackleing corruption, which fuels trafficking in human beings and to exercise due diligence in identifying and eradicating herefore leads to public sector involvement or complicity in THB;
Amendment 82 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Believes it necessary to set up a transparent system for better traceability of transplanted organs and a health guarantee for both recipients and donors of organs, while ensuring the anonymity of donors;
Amendment 86 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 d (new)
Paragraph 6 d (new)
6d. Stresses that forced marriage can be seen as a form of trafficking in human beings if it contains an element of exploitation of the victim, and calls on all Member States to include this dimension; stresses that exploitation may be sexual (marital rape, forced prostitution and pornography) or economic (domestic work and forced begging), and that the ultimate aim of trafficking can be forced marriage (selling a victim as a spouse or entering a marriage under duress); recalls the potential transnational character of forced marriage; calls therefore on Member States to ensure that the national authorities in charge of migration are adequately trained in the issue of forced marriage in the context of trafficking; calls on the Commission also to strengthen the exchange of best practices in this regard;
Amendment 87 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 e (new)
Paragraph 6 e (new)
6e Commends the work of Europol, in particular through the Focal Point Twins to detect people travelling to third countries in order to commit child abuse; calls on Member States to cooperate with Europol by ensuring a systematic and rapid exchange of data;
Amendment 88 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 e (new)
Paragraph 6 e (new)
6e. Calls on the Commission and Member States to take targeted and appropriate prevention measures aimed at reducing the risk of people becoming victims on trafficking, such as education and training, awareness-raising campaigns and research programmes;
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16
Paragraph 16
16. Urges that children, who are victims of THB, be identified as such and their best interests, rights and needs be considered paramount at all times; calls for the provision of adequate support and protectionphysical, emotional and psychological support and protection, both in the short and in the long term, and for measures to be taken to facilitate family reunification where applicable and in the best interest of the child or for adequate care arrangements to be made;
Amendment 145 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Deplores the inadequate attention given to victims in criminal proceedings; calls for trafficked persons not to be detained and not to be put at risk of being punished for offences committed inin the legal treatment of offences, calls for account to be taken of the context of their situation as victim of THB;
Amendment 161 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27
Paragraph 27
27. Calls for effective international cooperation to investigate and combat transnational THB by stepping up financial and technical assistance and strengthening cross-border communication, cooperation and capacity building at government and law enforcement level, including border guards, immigration and asylum officials, criminal investigators and victim support agencies, civil society and UN agencies, including on how to identify and protect victims and to discuss ways of dealing with countries of origin, transit and destination which have not ratified the UN Palermo Protocol;
Amendment 170 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 28
Paragraph 28
28. RegretOutlines that cross-border labour migration has to date not received sufficientshould receive more attention; and underscores theits potential of formalised labour migration as a means of preventing trafficking in human beings and to savesaving lives;
Amendment 180 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31
Paragraph 31
31. Recommends to the international community to give particular attention to the issue of preventing and combating THB in crisis environments, such as natural disasters and armed conflicts in order to decrease victims’ vulnerability to traffickers and other criminal networks;
Amendment 194 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
34. Urges the EU to refrain from addressing THB primarily as a security issue and from disproportionately focusing on the fight against smuggling; urges the EU and its Member States to pay attention to the identification of refugees and migrants as victims of THB or asinvest in identification mechanisms of THB victims or victims of violations and abuse as part of smuggling in the waves of migrants and asylum seekers;
Amendment 200 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 35
Paragraph 35