The European Parliament,

–   having regard to International Women's Day on 8 March 2006,

–   having regard to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union(1), and in particular Article 5(3) thereof, which states that 'trafficking in human beings is prohibited',

–   having regard to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination, which entered into force on 4 January 1969,

–   having regard to the United Nations Convention of 18 December 1979 on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women,

–   having regard to the recent communication from the Commission entitled 'Fighting trafficking in human beings - an integrated approach and proposals for an action plan' (COM(2005)0514),

–   having regard to the Council's EU action plan on best practices, standards and procedures for combating and preventing trafficking in human beings(2),

–   having regard to its resolution of 17 January 2006 on strategies to prevent the trafficking of women and children vulnerable to sexual exploitation(3),

–   having regard to the Council of Europe's Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings,

–   having regard to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the ILO Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour,

–   having regard to Rule 108(5) of its Rules of Procedure,

A.   whereas trafficking in human beings, particularly women and children, for sexual or other forms of exploitation, is one of the most serious human rights violations and whereas such trafficking is increasing as organised crime expands and becomes more profitable,

B.   whereas forced prostitution, as a form of exploitation of women and children, is a major problem and is harmful not only to the women and children concerned but also to society as a whole,

C.   whereas experience has shown that any major sporting event at which large numbers of people congregate results in a temporary and spectacular increase in the demand for sexual services,

D.   whereas most trafficked women are victims of organised crime, having been recruited with the help of false documents, lured by job offers and often deceived by false promises of legitimate employment, before being forced to work as prostitutes,

E.   whereas, if all Member States followed practices such as effective use of communications tools and coherent awareness campaigns, with the involvement of the media and well-known sports personalities, this could have a positive influence on changing the way people think and behave,

1.  Welcomes the campaign launched by the German National Council of Women and calls for cross-border cooperation and exchanges of best practice; stresses the need for an integrated Europe-wide campaign and therefore calls on the Member States to launch and promote the campaign in close cooperation with all parties concerned, in other words the relevant NGOs, the police, law enforcement agencies, sports associations and organisations, churches, and social and medical services;

2.  Calls on Germany and the other Member States to set up a multilingual telephone hotline followed by a high-profile publicity campaign designed to provide the necessary information, counselling, safe housing and legal aid to women and children and other victims 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;

3.  Calls 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;

4.  Calls on the Commission and Member States 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;

5.  Calls on the Commission and Member States to launch a prevention campaign targeting potential victims and informing them of the risks and dangers of becoming caught up in human trafficking networks and thus becoming victims of forced prostitution and sexual exploitation, and also providing them with information as to their rights and where they can obtain assistance in countries of destination;

6.  Reiterates its requests 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; recalls 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;

7.  Urges all Member States 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(4);

8.  Urges those Member States which have not respected the deadline of 1 August 2004 for the implementation of Council Framework Decision 2002/629/JHA(5) on combating trafficking in human beings to take immediate action, and calls the Commission and the Council to produce urgently the assessment report provided for in the Framework Decision;

9.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the governments of the Member States, the German Football Association, and the accession and candidate countries.

(1) OJ C 364, 18.12.2000, p. 1. (2) OJ C 311, 9.12.2005, p. 1. (3) Texts Adopted, P6_TA(2006)0005. (4) OJ L 261, 6.8.2004, p. 19. (5) OJ L 203, 1.8.2002, p. 1.