Gender perspective crucial to the fight against human trafficking

The European Commission has announced new measures to tackle human trafficking. This comes in response to a 2021 report assessing the effectiveness of the EU's 2001 Anti-Trafficking Directive, which found the response by Member States to be insufficient. The EESC opinion calls for a gender focus, greater support for victims, more accountability for companies, and improved monitoring mechanisms.

The Anti-Trafficking Directive is the fundamental EU legislative act addressing trafficking in human beings. It sets minimum rules concerning criminal offences and sanctions, victim protection, and prevention measures, but leaves the final decision on criminalising the knowing use of services exploited from trafficked persons to Member States, leading to a diverse legal landscape across the EU. The 2021 report shows how these inconsistencies have hampered efforts to reduce demand effectively and across borders.

The Committee stresses that the major factors influencing the likelihood of being trafficked have a clear gender dimension. It is likely that disparities in access to education and jobs, health and social care, as well as other social inequalities that exist between men and women make the latter more vulnerable to being trafficked.

The EESC rapporteur of the opinion Jose Antonio Moreno Diaz explained that 51% of victims are trafficked for sexual exploitation, 88% of whom are female, of which 21% are girls. This data is frightening. The vast majority of victims are women and girls.  We need a gender perspective in the content and implementation of the directive, urged Mr Moreno Diaz.

In its opinion, the EESC recommends that:

  • The directive should pay greater attention to victims of trafficking. In particular, the opinion highlights Member States' obligation to care for and protect victims and ensure their social inclusion. Similarly, attention should be paid to vulnerable situations that may facilitate recruitment and exploitation by criminal networks and others. Vulnerable categories include refugees, asylum seekers, and people who are undocumented or have a precarious residence status.
  • The directive should comply with the 2004/81/EC Directive on the residence permit issued to third-country nationals who are victims of trafficking or who have been subject to actions that facilitate irregular immigration and cooperate with the competent authorities.
  • Companies that benefit from exploitation should be held accountable. This could be achieved by linking the conscious use of exploitation services to the Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence.
  • Data collection and monitoring tools should be improved to identify offences more effectively. The use of new technologies has encouraged human trafficking offences, allowing and facilitating greater access to and exploitation of victims, and creating more difficulties when it comes to monitoring the profits derived from these offenses.

The proposal is gaining momentum. In the Council of the EU, a general approach of the proposal is anticipated to be reached this June. In the European Parliament, the draft report on the proposal by the MEP co-rapporteurs Eugenia Rodríguez Palop and Malin Björk is due in June, with the start of inter-institutional negotiations envisaged before the end of this Parliamentary mandate.