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Local
MP leads the way to stop international
sex trade
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Mr
Colman has been
working with
UNIFEM (United
Nations Development
Fund for Women)
to highlight
the number of
women who are
smuggled into
the UK and who
are then forced
into prostitution
in order to pay
their debts to
the traffickers
- amounts up
to £15,000.
UNIFEM-UK
Chairman Lois
Hainsworth said:
"I
am very grateful
for Tony Colman
MP for taking
the initiative
- we really need
legislation to
recommend higher
penalties for
traffickers.
Trafficking in
women has become
a global phenomenon
and is the world's
largest violation
of human rights."
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She
added, "It
is a huge business with profits on a par with those gained
from drug trafficking. Victims of this trade are brought from
developing countries, and find themselves in debt bondage
in degrading conditions."
Speaking
on Wednesday, Mr Colman said:
"I
am very pleased at the amount of support my Motion is attracting.
I have been asking everyone I meet to sign, or to ask their
MP to sign the motion. The
more signatures we can get, the more pressure there will be
on the Home Secretary to do more to combat this disgusting
trade in women and children. I am hoping we can double the
number of MPs who have signed.
The
broad aim of the campaign is to attract attention to the trade
in human traffic, and the terrible circumstances that many
women have to endure, after they have been tricked into leaving
their homes for a supposedly better life."
There
have been hints that the Home Secretary will take on board
some of Mr Colman and UNIFEM's proposals in the forthcoming
white paper, for example, longer sentences for traffickers.
The
text of the Motion is found below:
That
this House condemns the high level of trafficking of women
into the UK for exploitation in the sex trade; commends UNIFEM
for bringing this issue to the fore; congratulates the International
Labour Organisation and the United Nations Information Centre
on the occasion of Human Rights Day, 10th December, for its
declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and
its longstanding efforts to protect and promote human rights
in the field of employment; and supports the National Council
of Women's call upon the Government to give urgent consideration
to enacting penalties for specific crimes of sexual exploitation
and the trafficking of women in their current review of the
Sexual Offences Act; to enhance the penalties for coerced
prostitution as recommended in the police research series
paper 'Stopping traffic'; and to ensure that the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office works with the Department for International
Development to increase preventative campaigns in countries
of origin by providing economic opportunities for women and
raising awareness of the sex trade
A
list of other signatories can be found at: http://edm.ais.co.uk/weblink/html/motion.html/ref=536
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