Legal Responses to Trafficking in Women for Sexual Exploitation in the European Union

The phenomenon of trafficking in women for sexual exploitation, which in the last decade has changed from a marginal 'non-issue' to a legitimate concern in many parts of the world, has become familiar through newspaper coverage. Now, finally, legislators and law enforcement agencies have begun to act. In Europe, many EU Member States now have, or are developing, at least some sort of anti-trafficking policies, with some of States in the forefront of global anti-trafficking efforts. Moreover, the EU itself has become markedly more active with regard to curbing trafficking in human beings as part of its migration control and police and judicial co-operation functions under the current Third Pillar. However, even coordinated efforts, such as those being worked on by the EU, tend to produce only short-term cures to a problem that is in truth global and structural in nature and which cannot be eradicated, or necessarily even significantly reduced, through policing and migration control measures alone. Too often there is little debate on broader measures which might be targeted to address the root causes of trafficking, such as poverty, under-development, general lack of economic and migration opportunities, and above all, gender inequality. Against this background, this book deals with present efforts to control trafficking in women for sexual exploitation. In doing so it examines claims that what is needed to effectively prevent and tackle trafficking is a comprehensive approach, and, at the very least, one that is far more wide-ranging and coherent than what exists today. The book also questions the assertion that destination countries, and more specifically Member States of the EU, could, and perhaps should, take more action against trafficking through regional co-operation, particularly in the framework of the EU, rather than as individual Member States. The book will be of interest to a wide range of scholars in EU law, human rights, comparative law, sociology, feminist theory, and politics, as well as policy-makers, practitioners, and NGO activists in various European countries.