Mr. President,
The European Union would like to express its appreciation to the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary forms of slavery including its causes and consequences for her latest report and her ongoing work in pursuance of her important mandate.
Ms Shahinian, we would like to welcome the attention you have given in your report to the ongoing problem of forced labour, especially bonded labour. As you state in your report, forced labour is a global problem affecting almost every country. You highlight the fact that despite being the most common form of contemporary slavery, forced labour is often not perceived as slavery or a slavery-like practice. You also highlight the significant amount of attention which the global problem of trafficking in persons have received, but the comparatively small amount of attention paid to the global problem of forced labour, when this does not occur in the trafficking context. What steps would you suggest to address these problems of perception and lack of awareness at the national and international levels?
Your report draws attention to some of the common forms of bonded labour as well as its causes and consequences. You also make reference to the fact that some states have achieved some success in seeking to combat the problem of bonded labour. Please could you provide further information on some of the successful strategies which have been employed by states to highlight the problem of bonded labour within their own jurisdictions and to address its causes and consequences. Do you think such measures could serve as an example for other states?
Finally, we would like to welcome the fact that you have carried out a country visit to Haiti, and that there some other states have indicated their willingness to receive you in the near future. Please could you provide any recent information in relation to visits which you are seeking or planning in the near future?
The European Union would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography Ms Maala for a very thorough report that gives a particular thematic emphasis on the issue of child pornography on the internet, as promised in her previous report.
The Special Rapporteur has managed to deal with an exhaustive list of issues pertaining to the thematic focus of the report before us and we commend her for her effort to be as analytical as possible, both in reporting all aspects of this global problem and in suggesting ways and means to combat this phenomenon.
Ms. Maala, allow us a few questions with regard to your report.
1. We would be interested to be informed on the positive impact that the increased cooperation between you, the S.R. on trafficking in persons, especially women and children, and the S.R. on contemporary forms of slavery has, especially after the seminar you co-organized last June. How do you envisage the continuation of this cooperation?
2. To what extent have you taken into consideration the draft Guidelines for the protection of children in cyberspace that are to be issued at the ITU Telecom World, to be held next month in Geneva?
3. The EU considers it important to take into account the views and experiences of children in devising and implementing strategies to prevent and combat child pornography on the internet, as you suggested in paragraphs 102 and 103 of your report. Taking into consideration the recommendations you have made in this respect, we would kindly ask you to further elaborate on that issue.
Allow us to reiterate that the EU attaches great importance to the Convention on the Rights of the child and its two Optional Protocols. We put a particular emphasis on mainstreaming the rights of the child in all our key policies and programmes both within the EU and in our external action. Further to the EU program entitled Safer Internet 2009-2013 which builds upon the successful Safer Internet Plus program that started in 2005, let us inform you about one of our recent initiatives, the EU Council Framework Decision on combatting the sexual abuse, sexual exploitation of children and child pornography designed to replace the 2004 respective Framework Decision on the same issue. This initiative constitutes a comprehensive EU approach on the fronts of prosecuting the offenders, protecting the victims and preventing the phenomenon.
Thank you, Mr. President