The European Parliament adopted a resolution on forced prostitution in the context of world sports events. It called onMember States to set up a multilingual telephone hotline followed by a high-profile publicity campaign. This should be designed to provide the necessary information, counselling, safe housing and legal aid to women and children forced into prostitution and in order to inform other victims, who frequently find themselves isolated in residential units or industrial zones, unable to speak the language of the country of transit or destination and with no basic information on whom to turn to or what to do. Parliament called on the International Olympic Committee and sports associations, including FIFA, UEFA, the German Football Association and others, as well as sportsmen and -women themselves, to support the 'Red card' campaign and roundly condemn trafficking in human beings and forced prostitution.
The Commission and Member States are asked to launch a Europe-wide campaign during international sports events to inform and educate the general public, and particularly sports people, sports fans and supporters, about the scale of the problem of forced prostitution and trafficking in human beings and, most importantly, to seek to curb demand by raising awareness among potential clients.
A prevention campaign targeting potential victims should also be launched. Such a campaign must inform of the risks and dangers of becoming caught up in human trafficking networks and thus becoming victims of forced prostitution and sexual exploitation.
Parliament reiterated its request for the launch in 2006 of an Anti-Trafficking Day to raise awareness on the issue of trafficking in all its aspects, as well as for the introduction of free telephone help lines. It recalled the need to gather data concerning trafficking in human beings at EU level and for the close association of Europol and Eurojust in the fight against this scourge.
All Member States are urged to ratify the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, which sets out minimum standards for the protection of the victims of trafficking in human beings for the purposes of sexual exploitation, as well as to implement Council Directive 2004/81/EC on residence permits for victims of trafficking.
Finally, Parliament urged those Member States which have not respected the deadline of 1 August 2004 for the implementation of Council Framework Decision 2002/629/JHA on combating trafficking in human beings to take immediate action, and called on the Commission and the Council to produce the assessment report provided for in the Framework Decision.