SPEECH/01/102
Anna Diamantopoulou
European Commissioner responsible for Employment and Social
Affairs
OPEN ARTICLE
From poverty to sex slavery: The
misery behind the fantasy
Brussels, 6/3/2001
One might imagine that trafficking in women and their sexual exploitation is a
throwback to bygone days or a stigma of countries lost in the depths of Africa or
Asia, that it is a dismal and abhorrent nightmare far removed from the glossy
surface of life in the EU countries.
However, the nightmare is upon us. It is circulating on our roads, it is in our very
neighbourhoods, it is encircling us and it is a stain on our culture. It is not hidden or
latent - it does not tiptoe about in the dark. We see it in the plate glass windows of
Antwerp and Hamburg; it inundates the centres and pavements of Amsterdam,
Paris, Athens, and Rome; it is a product for sale in the markets of London and
Madrid, and it is headline news in newspapers and periodicals — indeed it is even
flourishing on the Internet.
Fifty thousand women enter the European Union as sexual products seeking to
improve their lot — but all that awaits them is humiliation and misery. Poverty,
destitution, loneliness, refugeehood — their passports. Violence, trafficking, scorn—
their wages. A shame on our civilisation, because all of us are in some way
responsible. We are talking about societies that foster discrimination, poverty, and
prejudice, about customers — “consumers” who have put their humanity in their
wallets. Politicians who refuse to strike the evil at its roots. Citizens whose
disapproval merely takes the form of ethical or aesthetic revulsion at a phenomenon
which does not concern them — unless it knocks at their door. And of course
women, women themselves (and I do not mean the victims, the procurers'
unfortunate prey). For it is incumbent on women to be particularly sensitive to the
severity of this racial and human scandal and to rise up in revolt, as they did in the
past to secure the right to vote, the right to work, the right to their share in society's
goods.
What is the point of today’s celebration of International Women’s Day if we close
our eyes to the scourge of women's sexual exploitation? What soft-spoken
hypocrisy could mask the empty gaze (empty too because of despair) of the women
behind the plate glass windows and the streetwalkers? What is the meaning of a
statistical victory or the successful implementation of equality policy when
phenomena such as trafficking in women still exist in civilised Europe?
As Commissioner responsible, amongst other things, for equality between the
sexes, as a person who wishes to retain her self-respect and as a woman who
senses the offence to her own cause, I urge you to mount a major effort to wipe out
this scourge. Firstly, I think that 8 March 2001 should be an invitation to the
international organisations and the European Union to take coordinated
international action against the phenomenon. In particular, the European
Commission has recently proposed joint measures in the fields of legislation,
cooperation between the police authorities and, as regards aid for developing
countries, a major drive to address poverty among women and children. Likewise,
violence against women and their exploitation is one of the five pillars of the fiveyear action programme for women. Today, 8 March, I am also announcing the
launching of an information campaign in all the trafficked women's countries of
origin so that they can learn more about the misery that lies behind the mirage.
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Secondly, today is an opportunity to invite the governments of the Member States to
adopt stringent legislation, to see to its enforcement, to adapt the social systems to
the new needs, to provide for cooperation between universities and NonGovernmental Organisations with a view to analysing the phenomenon and also to
looking after and supporting the victims.
Thirdly, today we invite all citizens' associations to play an active role in combating
the phenomenon and supporting the victims. Implementing this invitation on the part
of organisations or networks of organisations at European level (the e.g. the NonGovernmental Organisation RAUOKE in Antwerp) could constitute an example of
good practice.
Finally, I see this as an invitation to all citizens to take a more active stand both in
respect of the victims and the perpetrators, whether motivated by their personal
feelings or because they view this phenomenon as an affront to the society we live
in.
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