Prime Ministers and Party Leaders say 'Celebrate the World Cup - Fight sexual slavery'
14 March 2006
Today the Party of European Socialists hands over its call to prevent the mass trafficking of women and girls into Germany for prostitution during the World Cup, signed by many top politicians including Tony Blair and Romano Prodi.
At 16.30 today, Tuesday 14 March, PES President Poul Nyrup Rasmussen and PES Women President Zita Gurmai will hand over the petition, collected in just over a week, to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso in his office in the European Parliament in Strasbourg (Winston Churchill Building, room WIC MO6 039). Reporters are invited to attend.
Almost 19,000 people signed the petition, among whom PES Prime Ministers and party leaders, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, leader of the Italian centre-left coalition L’Unione Romano Prodi, Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev, Swedish Deputy Prime Minister Bosse Ringholm, Finnish Vice Prime Minister Eero Heinäluoma, Spanish Justice Minister Juan Fernando López Aguilar, Swedish Trade and Industry Minister Thomas Östros, Hungarian Finance Minister Janos Veres, German SPD Leader Matthias Platzeck, Belgian Socialist Party Leaders Elio Di Rupo and Johan Vande Lanotte, Hungarian Socialist Party Leader Istvan Hiller, Social Democrats Italy Leader Enrico Boselli, Luxembourg Socialist Worker Party Leader Alex Bodry, Leader of the Malta Labour Party Alfred Sant, French Socialist Leader François Hollande, Leader of SD Slovenia Borut Pahor, former Italian Prime Minister Massimo D’Alema, Leader of SLD Democratic Left Alliance Wojciech Olejniczak, Leader of the SPÖ Alfred Gusenbauer, Slovakian Social Democratic Leader Robert Fico, Romanian Social Democratic Leader Mircea Geoana, Dutch Labour Party Chair Michiel van Hulten, Irish Labour Party Leader Pat Rabbitte, European Parliament President Josep Borrell and Deputy Leader of Estonian Social Democrats Katrin Saks, as well as the Vice-President of UEFA Per Ravn Omdal.
It is estimated that anywhere between 40,000 and over 100,000 women are at risk, many from the poorest nations of Eastern Europe and the Balkans. They will be brought into Germany on false promises of a better life and a decent job such as waitressing or cleaning. Operations are run by highly organised criminal gangs working across Europe to exploit women and force them to sell their bodies.
The President of PES Women Zita Gurmai said "EU member states and neighbouring countries must take concerted action to prevent thousands of women falling victim to ruthless traffickers and pimps. Prostitution is legal in Germany but trafficking is a crime throughout Europe. It can and must be stopped. We want the World Cup to be a celebration, not the scene of a major crime."
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, President of PES, said “The mass trafficking of women is a terrible crime which must be prevented by coordinated action from police across Europe. This petition, signed by many leading politicians, reflects the revulsion felt most most people towards the trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation. I hope it injects some real urgency into the fight to prevent trafficking during the World Cup and beyond.”
For more information Julian Scola, Press Officer, Party of European Socialists, tel +32 486 117 394,
