2000: A year of Significant Achievements in the Fight against Trafficking in Human Beings

Abstract

Trafficking in human beings is a worldwide phenomenon that in many cases takes life and liberty from the living, reaps considerable profits in the face of dire poverty and ignores barriers where borders exist. Within the OSCE region, this is particularly true in the case of South Eastern Europe, a region that is receiving increased attention and assistance in this regard. It is estimated that in 2000 more than 1,000 victims of trafficking were assisted in South Eastern Europe by a growing but still insufficiently co-ordinated network of governmental, nongovernmental and intergovernmental institutions. While a co-ordinated response to trafficking has only been developing very slowly, the international community significantly increased its efforts to address this problem in 2000. One important achievement was that a number of politically important documents were adopted, some of which are of a legally binding character. These documents outline the need to take more co-ordinated action in the fields of prevention, protection of trafficking victims and prosecution of perpetrators. Trafficking in human beings as a multifaceted problem touches on issues of human rights, inequality, discrimination, the rule of law, crime control, law enforcement, corruption, economic deprivation and migration affecting all states being either countries of origin, transit or destination. It is clearly an international problem that calls for a concerted response and multidisciplinary approaches. Countries in transition face tremendous political, social and economic challenges. High unemployment rates, gender inequality and scarce prospects for the future have a proportionately greater effect on women who then become easy targets for traffickers. The need for survival and the desire to improve one’s standard of living leads people to migrate for work. This all too often ends in the trafficking of human beings when people are dependent on others to facilitate their attainment of documents, to arrange their travel and to assist them in finding work abroad. Once in the hands of traffickers, human beings are treated as merchandise without any rights or dignity. Due to the hidden nature of this problem, the scale of the ‘trafficking business’ can not be measured in figures and official data can only show us the tip of the iceberg. Trafficking in human beings is frequently viewed only as a problem of illegal migration or prostitution. As a result, the victims of trafficking are often treated as criminals, while the traffickers most often go unpunished. Traffickers