CIAO DATE: 05/2008
September 2006
Austrian National Defence Academy
Introduction
During the past decade, human trafficking and smuggling grew to a
diverse multibillion dollar business across South East Europe and the
entire globe. The concern about human smuggling and trafficking extends
far beyond matters of security and law enforcement. The cost in human
suffering and exploitation that often accompanies smuggling and
trafficking cause human rights violations and deplete human capital in
origin countries.
The Regional Stability in South East Europe Study Group of the PfP
Consortium of Defence Academies and Security Studies Institutes decided
to asses the situation in the South East European region in its 11th
Workshop on "Combating Trafficking in Persons in SEE - a Threat to
Human Security”, jointly organized by the International Organization on
Migration (IOM), and the Center for Strategic Research at the Turkish
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey from 25-27 August 2005 in
Istanbul.
The main objective of the workshop was to discuss human security
approach to trafficking in general, and in the particular context of
trafficking in persons to and from SEE. Herein, it focused on: the
policy, practice and human security threats posed by trafficking in
persons; the human rights of trafficking victims, especially in
destination countries that may include the right to temporary residence
permits, assistance, etc; law enforcement aspects, such as
investigative techniques, witness protection mechanisms and
cross-border collaboration; and the link between trafficking and
various forms of organized crimes.
The book explores the regional dimensions of human trafficking and
smuggling in several forms in the South East Europe. It examines the
deep social, economic, and cultural roots of human trafficking and
smuggling and their broad political consequences.
In the book, a number of articles analyse the diversity of human
smuggling of migrants, the international business of trafficking women,
asylum-seekers, and those who are tricked into slavery. Some of them
look more closely at the legal construction of victimized women
trafficked into slavery and new laws in several states, the creation
and expansion of new enforcement and management agencies in the region
to combat human smuggling.
The case studies presented in the book show that human smuggling
differs from trafficking only by degree. Smuggling organizations make
their profits by illegally moving humans to countries of their choice.
Traffickers, however, increase their profits by forcing their victims
into forced labor or commercial sexual exploitation arrangements at
their destinations. Trafficking also often involves exploitation of
agricultural employees and shop workers, as well as individuals working
as domestic servants. The perpetrators of trafficking are not
restrained by conscience. Their methods are devious, exploitative, and
ruthless. Their victims include the young and the vulnerable. The
depravity of their actions tests - and often far exceeds - the
boundaries of decency. Traffickers prey on the economically
disadvantaged and on those who lack social safety nets.
Traffickers lure victims from their homes with false promises of
economic opportunities and better lives. Naturally, less-developed
countries with high rates of poverty, violence, and corruption
constitute their best recruiting bases. South East Europe, East Asia,
and Latin America are the largest source of trafficking victims.
International and regional cooperation is very important to combat
human trafficking and smuggling. At the national level, taking legal
measures and action to prevent human trafficking and raising awareness
of the human trafficking phenomenon, particularly that of women
trafficking are very important.
Turkey, one of the major transit countries in the region, adopted new
laws and policies to prevent human smuggling and trafficking. It also
outlawed organ trafficking when the Parliament adopted a major reform
package to harmonize Turkish laws with those of the EU in August 2002.
Turkey signed the UN Convention on transnational organized crime and
its two Protocols regulating migrant smuggling and human trafficking
(Palermo Documents) in 2000 and ratified them in Turkish Parliament
(TGNA) in 2003. The Turkish General National Assembly amended Turkish
Penal Code and human trafficking is defined as a crime in 2002, which
sentences the perpetrators 5 to 10 years. A new Turkish Penal Code was
passed in 2005 and it sentences human trafficking from 8 to 12 years.
Nilufer Narli
Resource link: Trafficking in Persons in South East Europe - a Threat to Human Security: 11th Workshop of the Study Group "Regional Stability in South East Europe" [PDF] - 2.3M