28 Amendments of Ernest URTASUN related to 2015/2118(INI)
Amendment 91 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Recalls the Commission´s obligation under article 23 paragraph 1 of Directive 2011/36/EU to submit in April 2015 a report to the EP and Council with an assessment of the extent to which MS have taken necessary measures to comply with the Directive; this reporting task has not been completed on schedule and signals the Commission´s failure in achieving a harmonised playing field;
Amendment 93 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Acknowledges the good work done byCalls on the office of the EU Anti- Trafficking Coordinator to promote further efforts in the development of knowledge and evidence on the various aspects of THB, including research into the gender dimension;
Amendment 96 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Regrets the complete lack of country specific information from the Commission´s coordination of national Rapporteurs and mechanisms, which hinders the EP work and delays progress at European level;
Amendment 107 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Recalls that women and children may be compelled to exchange sex for protection, in order to survive, in order to advance along their migratory route, and for basic sustenance; underlines that survival sex is frequently a direct consequence of gaps in assistance, failures of registration systems, family separations, and absence of safe and legal entry ways into the EU and that women and children engaging in survival sex are not considered trafficking victims, and thus cannot receive the required assistance;
Amendment 134 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Notes with concern the evidence of victims of THB being subject to arrest and deportation rather than being allowed and aided to access their rights as victims, as they should be in accordance with Directive 2004/81/EC; deeply regrets that some Member States have not approved the required legal instruments to comply with the Article 8 referring to the principle of non-prosecution and non- application of penalties to the victim for those crimes committed as a direct consequence of being subject to trafficking, the absence of which may conclude with the victim's imprisonment or deportation;
Amendment 137 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Calls on Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) agencies such as EUROJUST, EUROPOL, FRA, FRONTEX, CEPOL, EASO to develop a sustained programme of improving gender balance in decision- making relevant to trafficking. Figures on the gender composition of their management boards and staff should be released, followed by discussions with Member States on the benefits of equitable recruitment and promotion in law and border enforcement services. Programmes such as Europol's Female Factor should be rolled out across the most male-dominated JHA agencies on a periodic, rather than one-off basis;
Amendment 142 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)
Paragraph 14 a (new)
14a. Calls on the Commission to bolster resources for the JHA agencies to enable the appointment of gender-trained agency officers, especially in those Member States faced with increased mixed migratory flows. Relevant stipulations should be included in a revised version of the EU Agenda for Migration. The new 'Hotspot' approach outlined in the Agenda, should not be limited to quick processing and clearing of backlogs, but include a proportionate anti-trafficking component geared towards the effective referral of potential victims. Gender- trained agency officers, male and female, should be dispatched to support local police, to collaborate with and collect intelligence from staff at reception centres, local employers and migrants themselves. It is in the uncertain circumstances directly following arrival that many vulnerable persons, particularly women, may become exploited prostitutes or victims of trafficking;
Amendment 146 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Stresses that funding from the Commission and the Member States should be targeted to the best provider of services, based on the needs of the victims including gender- and child specific requirements;
Amendment 151 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19
Paragraph 19
19. Notes that while sexual exploitation of children is illegal in all Member States, this does not prevent trafficking of children for sexual exploitation; calls on the Commission to examine how the demand for sexual servpossible awareness-rising initiatives, to elaborate statistices drives child trafficking, andand to come forward with clear proposals on how to best to reduce demandprosecute this crime;
Amendment 156 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 20
Paragraph 20
20. Underlines the Commission’s obligation under Article 23 of the directive to come forward, by 2016, with a report assessing the impact of existing national laws on the criminalisation of the knowing use of services of a victim of THB, and the need for further action; stresses that the Commission should not rely solely on the reporting of a MS, but should also assess compliance through engagement with civil society and other relevant bodies, such as GRETA and the country reports produced by OSCE Special Representative on Human Trafficking and the UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking and Contemporary Forms of Slavery;
Amendment 158 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 21
Paragraph 21
21. Notes the lack of a common understanding among the Member States about what constitutes demand for exploitation, and calls on the Commission and the Member States to strengthen gender-sensitive guidelines on how to discourage demand while raising awareness about all forms of THB, especially sexual exploitation, and making other forms of exploitation like domestic servitude visible;
Amendment 167 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Calls on the Member States to develop specific strategies for reducing demand for trafficking for sexual exploitation, such as exit programmes and schemes to empower and protect the rights of those in prostitutionall forms of THB, such as schemes to empower and protect the rights of those working in vulnerable sectors (including sex work, domestic work care takers and agriculture), while also noting that the regulation of prostitution as well as regulations of other sectors is a competence of the Member States;
Amendment 187 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 a (new)
Paragraph 27 a (new)
27a. Notes that according to Europol´s THB situation report for 2016, 70% of the identified victims of THB in the EU are EU nationals, and that most reported victims are female EU nationals from Central and Eastern Europe;
Amendment 188 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 27 b (new)
Paragraph 27 b (new)
27b. Expresses concern about the lack of data regarding Romani women and children at risk of being trafficked for forced labour or services, which include begging; calls on the Commission to provide data regarding Romani women and children recognised as trafficking victims, how many have received victim assistance and in which countries;
Amendment 193 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 29
Paragraph 29
29. Notes that victims of THB require specialised services, including access to accommodation, witness protection schemes, education, healthcare and counselling, translation and interpretation services, and (re)integration and resettlement assistance, and that these services should be further individualised case by case, with specific consideration given to the issue of gender;
Amendment 198 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 31 a (new)
Paragraph 31 a (new)
31a. Ensure adequate funding for independent NGOs and gender-specific refuges to adequately meet needs at all points of the victim pathway in destination countries and to work preventatively in relevant source, transit and destination countries.
Amendment 201 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32
Paragraph 32
32. Calls on theUrges Member States to ensure gender- specific provision of services to victims of THB that is appropriate to their needs, recognising the form of trafficking to which they have been subjected; highlights that whilst a majority of victims are women and girls, there should be specialised services for victims of all genders;
Amendment 204 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32 a (new)
Paragraph 32 a (new)
32a. Recalls that specific actions to assist, support and protect trafficked children, including best interest assessments, should be integrated into general child protection systems as they exist at a national level.
Amendment 207 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 32 b (new)
Paragraph 32 b (new)
32b. Calls on Member States to consistently apply the principle of equal treatment in order to combat the discrimination and prejudice against women who work, or are thought to work in the sex industry. Law enforcement officers and border guards should be trained to abandon prejudicial attitudes and to offer women access to support services on an equal basis regardless of the specific nature and circumstances of the work they perform.
Amendment 212 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 34
Paragraph 34
34. Calls on the Member States to provide legal assistance to all of those who either self-identify, or meet an adequate number of the criteria for identification, as victims of THB, to help them access their rights, compensations and/or legal redress; reminds that self- identification can never be a requirement in order to access victims' rights and services;
Amendment 218 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 36 a (new)
Paragraph 36 a (new)
36a. Calls on the EU and member states to investigate the link between the increasing numbers of refugees arriving and THB, notes that specific attention should be paid to the trafficking of women and child refugees, including by improving data collection and ensuring compliance with existing protection standards.
Amendment 219 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 37
Paragraph 37
37. Underlines that all victims of THB should systematically be informed of the possibility of benefitting from a recovery and reflection period, and should effectively be granted such a period; regrets that in some Member States these rights have only been transposed into migration laws and therefore do not only apply to all victims of THB, but only to those in an irregular situation; recalls that these rights have to be granted to all THB victims;
Amendment 222 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 38
Paragraph 38
38. Calls onUnderlines the necessity theat Member States to assess the possibility of extending the minimum 30-day recovery and reflection period for women trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation, given the significant and sustained harms of this form of violence against women;
Amendment 227 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 41
Paragraph 41
41. Asks that the Member States collect more detailed data by compiling reliable statistical information gathered from all main actors, by ensuring that the data is homogenous and disaggregated by gender, age, type of exploitation (within the subsets of types of THB), country of origin and destination, and by including internally trafficked people, to better assess the gender dimension and recent trends in THB, as well as by collecting data on recovery and reflection periods, residence permits and victim compensation; calls on the Members States to ensure that national rapporteurs play a more significant role in the coordination of data collection initiatives, in close cooperation with relevant civil society organisations active in this field;
Amendment 232 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 42 a (new)
Paragraph 42 a (new)
42a. Notes that stakeholders generally confirm that the vast majority of victims of THB go undetected; recognises that the trafficking of certain vulnerable groups such as (homeless) youth, children, disabled and LGBTI people, has been somewhat overlooked; stresses the importance of improved data collection to enhance victim identification efforts with regard to these groups and developing best practice in dealing with the specific needs of these victims:
Amendment 234 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 43
Paragraph 43
43. Calls on the Commission to develop standardised guidelines including data protection for data collection for the relevant bodies, such as law enforcement, border and immigration services, social services, local authorities, prisons, NGOs and other contributors;
Amendment 235 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 43 a (new)
Paragraph 43 a (new)
43a. Calls on the Commission to ensure that anti-trafficking is given greater priority in the European Agenda on Migration (COM (2015) 240, final), so as to facilitate the engagement of victims in the prosecution of traffickers, by reform to rules on residency of victims of trafficking;
Amendment 237 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 43 b (new)
Paragraph 43 b (new)
43b. Calls on the Commission to address the abuse of self-employment in the employment of migrant labour in some EU member states, to avoid local labour standards and employment obligations, recognizing that bogus self-employment is often used in migrant labour domains most prone to trafficking;