On 19 December 2022, the European Commission put forward a proposal for the targeted revision of Directive 2011/36/EU, which is the main EU instrument to combat trafficking in human beings and protect its victims. Despite progress achieved in fighting this crime, the Commission reports that, on average, 7 000 people per year are victims of human trafficking in the EU and that this figure is most likely only the tip of the iceberg. Moreover, forms of exploitation have evolved over time and have adapted to the new environment. MEPs. MEPs Malin Björk and Eugenia Rodríguez Palop brief journalists on the deal reached on the revision of the directive on combating trafficking in human beings. The provisional agreement will expand the scope of the current directive to include forced marriage, illegal adoption and better support for victims. This transcription is a result of an automatic process. Please check against delivery.

Brussels

press conference

fight against trafficking in human beings (T)

BJÖRK, Malin (The Left, SE)

RODRÍGUEZ PALOP, Eugenia (The Left, ES)

Press Conference by Malin BJÖRK, (The Left, SE) and Eugenia RODRÍGUEZ PALOP, (The Left, ES), rapporteurs on the outcome of the negotiations on the revision of the directive on combating trafficking in human beings

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Eugenia RODR&Iacute;GUEZ PALOP, (The Left, ES), Rapporteur, Thank you very much. Good afternoon to everyone and thank you for being with us today, and thank you to those who have connected online. We are celebrating this outcome. We are pleased to announce that we have agreed a professional agreement with the Council last night. This is to update this directive on human trafficking. Twelve years have now gone by since this directive was approved. There was a pressing need to revise it, so we can fight this crime, but above all, to increase the support for the victims of human trafficking.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Eugenia RODRÍGUEZ PALOP, (The Left, ES), Rapporteur, The proposal that the Commission came up with was heading in the right direction, but we need it to be improved. We had a very strong mandate from the Parliament and we have been able to ensure that our mandate is reflected in the present agreement which was agreed on last night. No, I do at this point have to thank my colleague Malin BJÖRK. I think we have made an excellent team. We have been resilient, we stuck to our guns to the very end.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Eugenia RODRÍGUEZ PALOP, (The Left, ES), Rapporteur, I would like to thank the shadow Rapporteurs as well. And so in all their shadow Rapporteurs were female. I think there was, perhaps, one exception to that. Thank you to all the shadow rapporteurs for their commitment to have many meetings. I know a lot of people don't understand the process which we have to go through in order to come to this agreement, but it's a very difficult, very long process because things are lost along the way.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Eugenia RODRÍGUEZ PALOP, (The Left, ES), Rapporteur, But I do have to say we do have a lot to celebrate with this agreement. And clearly, I'd like to thank all the team, the staff, the APAs, the assistance hours, and also everyone involved with all the different MEPs as well. They provide technical support and not only technical support for this negotiation, they are committed to these points as well.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Eugenia RODRÍGUEZ PALOP, (The Left, ES), Rapporteur, And it should also be said that we are feminists, we have always been feminists and we have been committed to this for a long, long time. Now, there's a few points I'd like to highlight here, and then my colleague Malin BJÖRK continue and I won't go into huge amounts of detail on these points, but there are some points that you want to highlight.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Eugenia RODRÍGUEZ PALOP, (The Left, ES), Rapporteur, There's a new type of exploitation, the forced surrogacy, with the previous Commission penalty proposes on illegal adoption as well and forced marriage. We are talking about trafficking for forced surrogacy. So, we're talking about forced surrogacy when this fits with the penal criteria of trafficking. Children trafficking as well, and this will be specifically mentioned as a vulnerable groups, including stateless individuals.

SOUNDBITE (English), Malin BJÖRK (The Left, SE), Rapporteur, It is included the new references in relation to a new exacerbating circumstance, which is a lack of consent when it comes to distribution of explicit sexual videos through media. So, this is in relation to people having this knowledge as well.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Eugenia RODRÍGUEZ PALOP, (The Left, ES), Rapporteur, There's also changes to penalties and deterrents know to include certain sanctions relation to and access to legal funding for those individuals who have been involved in this crime. And this is can be increased including call for tenders and procurement as well. Now in relation to treating victims correctly, then we have ensured that victims who have been forced to be involved in illegal activity, then they will be protected from this. And for example, they won't be subject to fines as well. We're also setting up a special unit to look at human trafficking.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Eugenia RODRÍGUEZ PALOP, (The Left, ES), Rapporteur, Now in relation to a victim, we have important new points as well. Those points have been included, which including support to the victims, need to be specialised mostly to ensure that there's a gender based approach, a disability approach and a victim based approach. We also recognise that states should support the effective victims and take intersectional approach to this new addition as well the support for hostels and other refuges to ensure that there is necessary equality for victims in this kind of support.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish), Eugenia RODRÍGUEZ PALOP, (The Left, ES), Rapporteur, And also there's open the possibility for new victims funds. So there's a huge array of new points which have been included in this. And now I would like to give the floor to my colleague Malin, who would like to continue explaining the

SOUNDBITE (English), Malin BJÖRK (The Left, SE), Rapporteur, I can just also say a big thank you to the teams, to the shadows, also to the Council and the Commission that has worked hard because it was clear for everyone from the outset that we needed to revise the 2011 Directive, that it wasn't delivering the kind of effective work against trafficking in human beings in Europe as we need in this day.

SOUNDBITE (English), Malin BJÖRK (The Left, SE), Rapporteur, So we made a very ambitious parliament position, and that's what Parliament has always done. We have taken the feminist struggle further. We've taken the human rights struggle further than usually the Council does. So we had put a lot of more elements on the table. Even so, we managed to land these negotiations in time under this legislature, under this mandate. And that's an accomplishment in itself. It was because we worked all sides around the table very hard.

SOUNDBITE (English), Malin BJÖRK (The Left, SE), Rapporteur, I will mention some of the things that hasn't been highlighted, that is also an improvement compared to the 2011 directive. And it is, for example, the protection of victims in need of international protection. Today we see a situation where victims of trafficking are being forced to choose between either the procedure where they can have a residence permit as a victim of trafficking or apply for international protection. That situation should not happen. The best possible outcome for the victim must be at heart. And we had to build a bridge between these two procedures that is now in the directive. So that's a big step forward. And I think we managed finally to convince Council that this was the only reasonable way to go forward.

SOUNDBITE (English), Malin BJÖRK (The Left, SE), Rapporteur, Another important part of the EP mandate was to remove the requirement that the use of a service or an act of victims of trafficking is only to be criminalised when it's done with knowledge. So the knowing use of a service of a trafficking victims, and this form of legislation already exists in many Member States and it has proven to be ineffective. So in the Parliament we wanted to remove that knowing use. However, this was a no go for the Council and for the Member States. They had a blocking majority, I would say, on this article.

SOUNDBITE (English), Malin BJÖRK (The Left, SE), Rapporteur, So what we managed to achieve is that the knowing use is still in there, but we do have a list of criteria so that this is not completely subjective. So when the judges assess whether it is a trafficking victims or whether there was knowledge, they should have, you know, to get away from total subjectivity, they should look into things, like did the victim lack the proficiency in national language or knowledge of the cities or places where they are, etc.. So this is now in the the proposed directive.

SOUNDBITE (English), Malin BJÖRK (The Left, SE), Rapporteur, Another part of the Parliament position, mandate was to encourage member States to adopt rules, which criminalise the purchase of sexual acts. This is the most efficient way to combat the demand and to therefore kerb also trafficking in human beings for sexual exploitation. We didn't manage to get the Council on board on that, although I think there is an increasing awareness and understanding also at Member State level that this is the way forward. We have several countries Sweden, France, Ireland, Norway that are going this way. But at this stage what we can get was a reference in a recital on the need for that. The Member States may criminalise the purchase of sexual acts.

SOUNDBITE (English), Malin BJÖRK (The Left, SE), Rapporteur, And to finalise, then, we got, in this crucial agreement, a completely new article on training. Training will be key if we are going to be more successful in combating trafficking in human beings and prevention. And we also have a very strong chapter and article on governance, strengthening, making sure that Member States have national action plans and that they have a national coordinator against trafficking. So all in all, a big step from 2011 directive and a very, very big, I think, success for the Parliament negotiating teams.