Dear Friends!
Greetings
It is a pleasure for me to be speaking at this meeting today. I would like to begin by congratulating the organizers of this seminar and of the Nordic-Baltic Campaign for their tremendous work. And a special thanks to the national coordinators and to the leader of the whole campaign, Gunilla Ekberg.
History of the Campaign
Just about one and half year ago, in June of 2001, at the Women and Democracy conference in Vilnius, Lithuania, I suggested to my colleagues, those Ministers who are responsible for gender equality affairs in the Nordic and Baltic countries, that we together should organize a Nordic-Baltic Campaign against Trafficking in Women during year 2002.
The response to my proposal was overwhelmingly positive. We knew that, in order to be truly effective in the fight against trafficking in women, we must work together governments, authorities, and civil society - over national borders and in close collaboration. Later on that year, the Ministers of Justice in our eight countries also agreed to join us in this Campaign. The Campaign has been carried out under the auspices of and has partly been financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers.
We made the commitment to counteract trafficking with the recognition that full gender equality and equal participation of women and men in all fields of society cannot be brought about as long as some women and children in our countries are victims of prostitution and trafficking.
Aim of Campaign
The overall objective of the Campaign has been to increase our own knowledge and raise the awareness in all our countries - of the public, of authorities and NGOs - about trafficking in women, in our region. We have also intended to focus on those women and children who are victims of trafficking and the very difficult circumstances that they live under.
Most importantly, we have intended, and I do believe we have accomplished this, to initiate and stimulate debates and discussions about the problem in our region. The success of our work has been reflected in the continuing keen interest of the local mass media.
The Protocol - ratification
At the outset of our Campaign, we agreed to use the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children [Protocol against the Trafficking in Persons] as a point of reference for our work. The Protocol emphasizes that all initiatives against trafficking in women and children should focus on prevention of trafficking, protection and support of those women and children that are victims of trafficking, and prosecution of those individuals, groups and networks that traffic women.
Today, we are all in the process of signing and ratifying this Protocol and the Convention against Transnational Organized Crime as well as implementing national legislation against trafficking in human beings.
NGOs
In the fight against prostitution and trafficking in women, the work of non-governmental organizations is indispensable. NGOs have valuable experiences and knowledge about how to work against male violence against women, prostitution and trafficking in women. We must utilize their expertise and learn from them.
Their role is to remind us of our undertakings and responsibilities, and to challenge us to take action. We must, in turn, be receptive to their demands and support their work. During the campaign period, Nordic and Baltic NGOs have together established, what we hope, is the beginning of an ongoing regional partnership.
National Campaigns
The Campaign has been going on for almost one year. I am very satisfied with the result and the many different things that we have accomplished so far. We have organized eight national campaigns, which have been and still are being carried out according to our differing needs and local conditions.
Joint Seminars
We have also organized three joint seminars; one in Tallinn in May, where we introduced the different aspects of the global problem of trafficking in women to our region. At the seminar in Vilnius, a little over a month ago, we discussed how we can protect and support those women and children who are vulnerable to the pressures of pimps and traffickers those who are the potential and actual victims of trafficking in women.
The Demand
In order to find lasting solutions we have to be aware of the causes.
As you know, all markets depend on customers for their operation. Without men who regard it as their self-assumed right to buy women and children and use them for their own pleasure, I suggest that we would not have prostitution. The sexual exploitation of women and children, mainly girls, would cease.
I also argue that we cannot discuss trafficking in human beings, especially in women and children without mentioning prostitution. Nor can we talk about prostitution without reference to trafficking in women. The practices are linked.
Throughout the Campaign, we have discussed what we effectively can do in terms of legislative, economic, social and political measures to discourage the demand for women and children, for purposes of prostitution and sexual exploitation. Article 9.5 of the Protocol has functioned as an important guideline for this work.
We have had to ask ourselves: What is the meaning with our efforts to combat sexual harassment and male violence in the home, the workplace or the street, if men can buy the right to perpetrate these very acts against women and children in prostitution?
Also, at the recent session of the Nordic Council in Helsinki, the majority of the parliamentarians expressed their view that it is now time to focus our work on the root cause of prostitution and trafficking in women, that is, the demand for women and children for prostitution and sexual exploitation.
I am very much encouraged by the fact that fruitful discussion about what can be done about men who buy women and children for prostitution purposes and the potential buyers has been initiated in all our countries during the Campaign period.
The Future
An awareness raising campaign is, however, only the first step towards what we hope will lead to long-term cooperation between the Nordic and Baltic countries in order to combat the trafficking in women and children. We are gathered here today to conclude the first phase of our collaboration and to decide how we can carry on our work together.
In the light of the tendencies in Europe and elsewhere to legalize certain prostitution activities, I would like to emphasize that we have a particular responsibility in our region to develop sustainable solutions that will allow all women and children to lead lives free of oppression and male violence.
Sweden as Chair of the Nordic Council of Ministers
On January 1, 2003, Sweden will take over the chair of the Nordic Council of Ministers. The theme for our year at the helm is Integration integration within, and between the Nordic countries, within the European Union and, importantly for our purposes, integration with the adjacent areas.
The Swedish government has for a long time prioritised the work against prostitution and trafficking in human beings, especially women and children, nationally and internationally. We believe that lasting solutions for the prevention and elimination of prostitution and trafficking in women require strong political commitment and close collaboration over national borders.
As one aspect of our continuing work in the region, the Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anna Lindh, recently proposed to put in place a high-level Nordic-Baltic Taskforce against the trafficking in human beings. This Taskforce will soon start operating.
It is critical that our work in this region continues, that we search for holistic solutions and that our work against trafficking in human beings will be undertaken as a political priority. The experiences that we have made during this Campaign will certainly assist us in formulating our actions and strategies for the future.
Prostitution and trafficking in women touch upon the issues of human rights, gender inequality, sex and racial discrimination, and economic depravation, as well as the rule of law, crime control, law enforcement and corruption. I sincerely hope that we will be able to carry on our work to eliminate existing political, legal economic, social and cultural disparities - those inequalities that provide the breeding ground for trafficking in human beings between and within our countries.
Prostitution and trafficking cause harm both to the individual prostituted woman or child and to society at large. The task of combating trafficking in human beings must, as a consequence, be pursued on several fronts at the same time.
We must, therefore, together make a renewed commitment to continue our work through more and better preventive measures, effective legal protection and assistance to all victims, and regional collaboration to ensure prosecution of the traffickers and the organized crime networks.
I do believe that our region through our committed and hard work eventually will stand as a model for how to effectively combat the prostitution and trafficking in women and children!
I would like to invite you to a conference and a meeting of the Ministers responsible for gender equality affairs and the Ministers of Justice and Interior in Stockholm on April 9 next year. At this meeting we will have the opportunity to discuss and present concrete, long-term measures for the continuing collaboration on all levels - between the Nordic and Baltic countries in our fight against trafficking in women.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I argue that any society that claims to defend principles of legal, political, economic and social equality for women must reject the idea that women and children, mainly girls, are commodities that can be bought and sold. To do otherwise is to allow that a separate class of females, especially women who are economically and racially marginalized, is excluded from the universal protection of human dignity enshrined in the body of international human rights instruments developed during the last fifty years.
And finally, also thanks to the nordic councillor of ministers for the work with this campaign.
See you in Stockholm in April!
