18/10/2010 Equality and Non-Discrimination
‘On the European Day against Trafficking in Human Beings, I would like to reiterate the firm commitment of the Committee for Equal Opportunities for Women and Men not to spare any effort to fight against this intolerable form of modern-day slavery’, said today José Mendes Bota, Chairperson of the Committee.
‘On our continent, the Council of Europe and the European Union should work hand in hand, avoid duplication and apply the highest standards in the prevention of trafficking, the prosecution of offenders and the protection of victims’.
‘Parliamentarians should be at the forefront of the combat against trafficking. They have a full range of instruments to do so: campaigning, setting up parliamentary groups, initiating legislation, encouraging their governments to sign up to the Council of Europe anti-Trafficking Convention and contributing to the monitoring and oversight of existing legal instruments. I find that the potential of parliaments in this area could be further explored, and I hope that the inter-parliamentary conference that we are organising in a few weeks will generate a new impetus and interest from the part of parliamentarians’.
The PACE Committee for Equal Opportunities for Women and Men is organising an Interparliamentary Conference on “Parliaments united against human trafficking”, to be held in Paris on Friday 3 December 2010.