Trafficking protest on eve of World Cup
8 June 2006
On the eve of the World Cup, and to underline the continuing concern of thousands of Europeans about the illegal trafficking into Germany of women forced to work as prostitutes during the World Cup, a petition of 70,000 signatures collected by one of the biggest Danish trade unions, 3F, will be presented to European Commissioner for Justice Franco Frattini at 16:00 today in his office in the the Berlaymont Building.
The PES will also hand over its own petition which now has over 23,000 signatures.
Presenting the petition will be President of PES Women, Zita Gurmai MEP, Danish Social Democrat MEP Britta Thomsen, Estonian Social Democrat MEP Marianne Mikko and the Vice President of 3F Jane Korczak.
The Danish 3F petition follows a campaign by the PES - which it launched on Internaitonal Women's Day in March - calling for action by EU member states to prevent the trafficking of women into Germany to work as prostitutes during the World Cup. The PES Women President, Zita Gurmai MEP, will tell Commissioner Frattini that there is deep unease across Europe about the sex industry's exploitation of women during the World Cup and a widespread suspicion that little has been done to prevent trafficking. She said "We are not going to stop pressing the European Union to take this issue seriously. All the evidence is that illegal trafficking of women and girls, and their exploitation by the sex industry, is a problem that is becoming more and more serious. Human trafficking is one of the world’s most profitable crimes and international criminal gangs are abusing the most vulnerable women."
Zita Gurmai added "I will ask Commissioner Frattini to report back after the World Cup with an assessment of the scale of the problem and of the actions taken."
"Beyond the World Cup there is a need for a real debate across Europe on tackling the root causes of trafficking for sexual exploitation - and that means how to reduce demand for prostitution."
For more information: Julian Scola, PES Press Officer, tel +32 2 548 9085, mobile +32 486 117 394,
