COUNCIL OF EUROPE DRAFT CONVENTION ON ACTION AGAINST TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS

Early day motion 421, tabled 20 December 2004 by Tony Lloyd (Labour). Signed by 87 members.

That this House welcomes the Council of Europe's initiative to draft a Convention on action against Trafficking in Human Beings, as this will be the first international treaty which sets out States' obligations to respect and protect the rights of trafficked people; strongly urges all governments to support the measures in the Convention to provide trafficked people with advice, emergency medical and material assistance and a reflection period sufficient to allow them to recover and make an informed decision about their future, including cooperation with prosecution efforts; is extremely concerned by proposals which would give EU legislation precedence over the Convention, and that would allow states to make reservations to the Convention, and that seek to limit the mandate of the treaty monitoring body preventing necessary activities such as country visits; and urges the UK Government strenuously to resist these proposals and others which would weaken the assistance and protection provisions of the Convention and go against its stated aim of developing an international standard which improves on the protection currently afforded to trafficked people.

Signatures by party: Labour 50, Liberal Democrat 18, Labour/Co-operative 9, Conservative 3, Plaid Cymru 3, Scottish National Party 2, DUP 1, UUP 1.