European Parliament
A6-0368/2006
Leopold Józef Rutowicz (NI ).
(PL)
Mr President, the fight against human trafficking is a great challenge for the twenty-first century. In the struggle for human dignity, and in order to limit this phenomenon, international and national organisations have signed a series of declarations, conventions and directives, and are implementing a series of action plans. As the rapporteur has pointed out, these action plans may restrict human trafficking in its broadest sense, but they do not eliminate its causes.
The causes include: unemployment, hunger, poverty affecting large parts of society, high indirect labour costs, competition and the desire to achieve maximum profit. They often encourage illegal work and permit local communities to turn a blind eye to slave labour (an example would be the case of the area surrounding the Italian town of Foggia), sexual abuse, ethnic conflicts and wars.
This report could provide the basis for drawing up a programme for further economic, legal, political, educational, informative and institutional actions. Implementing this programme would restrict human trafficking, which goes against the principles of democracy and human dignity.

