MEPs in Strasbourg debate a planned revision of the EU's Strategy Towards the Eradication of Trafficking in Human Beings (2012-2016).

A debate on EU anti-trafficking strategy began on 3^rd April 2017 at the European parliament, Strasbourg.
MEPs have begun debating a planned revision of the EU’s Strategy towards the Eradication of Trafficking in Human Beings (2012-2016).
The current strategy served as guidance for implementing effective means of preventing trafficking, protecting victims and prosecuting traffickers. was planned to run until December 2016. Increased global migration has added an additional dimension to the challenges of human trafficking, with both migrant smuggling and human trafficking being lucrative and exploitative businesses involving human beings.
A revised strategy has been announced but is yet to be adopted by the Commission. The draft resolution includes action by EU and member states’ external services to address poverty, oppression, lack of respect for human rights, armed conflict and economic and social inequalities. MEP’s are also likely to call for transnational, legal and practical responses to human trafficking, in light of the fact that progress in the prosecution and conviction of human traffickers remains limited across Europe.
Eurostat, the EU’s statistics agency, said that around 80% of “registered or presumed” victims in Europe between 2010 and 2012 were women. An EU directive passed in 2011 obliges member states to offer gender-specific support to trafficking victims.
RENATE Core Group members Marie Hćlène Halligon, gsn, and Monica Chickwe, som, will attend the 7^th Annual International Symposium on Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling, in Brussels on the 17 May 2017, where the EU’s Strategy towards the Eradication of Trafficking in Human Beings will be a core, foundational document informing discussions. Attendance at the Symposium will provide RENATE with a timely and invaluable opportunity to explore developing integrated solutions to tackle human trafficking and migrant smuggling. The Symposium will also add to our knowledge-base on effective means of identifying victims, awareness raising and improving multi-lateral cooperation.
Prepared by Anne Kelleher, RENATE Communications.