§ Mr. CorbettTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information his Department (i) collects and (ii) publishes on the trafficking in women for sexual purposes in(a) the United Kingdom, (b) the rest of the EU and (c) wider Europe. [61533]
§ Mr. BoatengThe Government do not collect statistical information specific to women who are trafficked for sexual purposes.
The Home Office Policing and Reducing Crime Unit of the Research, Development and Statistics Directorate is currently considering commissioning a small research study on trafficking in women. This will draw together any information which exists on the extent and forms of trafficking in women in England and Wales.
§ Mr. RendelTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what involvement his Department has in the efforts to combat the trafficking in women for sexual purposes in(a) the EU and (b) wider Europe. [61531]
§ Mr. BoatengThe United Kingdom is fully committed to opposing trafficking in women and its associated activities. We are taking steps to implement the European Union Joint Action of December 1996 to combat trafficking in human beings and sexual exploitation of children, and we support and participate in the European Union STOP programme, which provides for incentives and exchanges for persons responsible for combating trafficking in human beings and the sexual exploitation of children. In addition, we recently adopted The Hague Ministerial declaration on a European Code of Conduct to prevent and combat trafficking in women for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
Among other initiatives, this year the United Kingdom took part in an European Union/United States information campaign to address the problem of trafficking in women from Poland and the Ukraine. We are also working on the problem, together with other European Union member states and countries of Central and Eastern Europe, within the European Conference. At the meeting of the European Conference on 6 October 1998, the conference tasked its expert group on drugs and organised crime to examine how the measures in the Joint Action to combat trafficking in human beings and the sexual exploitation of children could be extended to all States participating in the group's work.
The Government also support action to combat illegal immigration, including that of women for sexual purposes, in both European Union and international fora, and have 83W supported information campaigns aimed at alerting women to the risks involved in such illegal immigration.