ROME (20 September 2013) – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, today called on the Government of Italy to further boost and coordinate its national anti-trafficking response.
“Italy needs to rekindle its fight to end human trafficking, especially the unabated exploitation of the prostitution of foreign women and girls,” Ms. Ezeilo said* at the end of her official visit to Italy, from 12 to 20 September 2013, during which she examined the situation of trafficked individuals and assessed the impact of anti-trafficking measures in the country.
As a matter of fact, none of the 28 EU member states is complying with the EU directive 2011/36/EU on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims. No major change from EU Commissioner’s Malmström shocking statement from April 15 2013 can be recognized.
The reality is that the 28 EU member states do not comply with the basic EU laws and regulations against Organized Crime as for example the EU money laundering directive and the EU directive against human trafficking and forced labour.
In June 2013 the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) published a report concluding that governments across Europe were in a state of confusion and denial over the extent of forced labour within their own borders, contributing to hundreds of thousands of people remaining trapped in exploited, unpaid and dangerous working conditions.
According to the UN International Labor Organization (ILO) 21 million people are now victims of forced labour worldwide. There are about 880,000 people in forced labour conditions across Europe. 70% of the 880,000 people identified as being in forced labour conditions are in forms of labour exploitation, with a further 270,000 people estimated to be victims of sexual exploitation…
UNHR Trafficking Italy
