HL Deb 18 July 2000 vol 615 cc88-9WA
Lord Hylton

asked Her Majesty's Government:

When (a) Home and Interior Ministers and (b) senior police officers within the European Union last discussed the trafficking of women for prostitution; and whether fully co-ordinated action will be taken, in conjunction with the countries of eastern Europe, against this growing abuse. [HL3185]

Lord Bassam of Brighton

We have been engaged for some time in negotiating a Protocol to the United Nations Convention on Transnational Organised Crime on "Trafficking in Persons, especially women and children". The United Kingdom contributes to this discussion both in its own right and as a member state of the European Union. My honourable friend the Minister of State for the Home Office, Mrs Roche, spoke to a conference of senior police officers on this subject on 20 June and at a seminar on 6 July. We took a full part in drafting the European Union Action Plan on Trafficking and we have actively supported the action plan since its implementation in 1998. The action plan promotes such activities as information campaigns on training in Poland and the Ukraine.