Directive (EU) 2024/1712

What it is

to amend the anti-trafficking Directive (Directive 2011/36/EU) to better protect its victims. PROPOSED ACT: Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council. ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and on an equal footing with the Council. BACKGROUND: Directive 2011/36/EU of the European Parliament and the Council constitutes the main Union legal instrument on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting the victims of this crime. That Directive sets out a comprehensive framework to address trafficking in human beings by establishing minimum rules concerning the definition of criminal offences and sanctions. It also includes common provisions to strengthen prevention and protection of victims, taking into account the gender perspective. The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs and the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality have adopted the report presented by Malin BJÖRK (GUE/NGL, SE) and Eugenia RODRÍGUEZ PALOP (GUE/NGL, ES) on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2011/36/EU on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims. The relevant committees recommended that the European Parliament's position adopted at first reading under the ordinary legislative procedure should amend the proposal as follows: According to the amended text, exploitation should include, as a minimum: (i) the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, (ii) forced labour or services, including begging, slavery or practices similar to slavery, (iii) servitude, (iv) the exploitation of criminal activities, (v) the removal of organs, (vi) forced marriage, (vii) illegal adoption, (viii) surrogacy for reproductive exploitation, (ix) exploitation of children in residential and closed-type institutions, or (x) the recruitment of children to commit or participate in criminal activities. An offence referred to in the Directive should be punishable by a maximum penalty of at least 10 years of imprisonment where that offence: - was committed against a victim who was particularly vulnerable (e.g. residence status, pregnancy, a situation of dependence or a state of physical, mental, intellectual or sensory disability or distress, living in institutions, such as retirement homes, children’s homes, reception centres, detention facilities or accommodation centres for asylum seekers); - was committed within the framework of a criminal organisation; - deliberately or by gross negligence endangered the life of the victim or caused the death of the victim; - was committed by use of serious violence or has caused particularly serious physical or psychological harm to the victim; - was committed by means of information or communication technologies by creating sexually explicit content featuring a victim of trafficking, including sharing or threatening to share such content, or obtaining economic benefits from it, which places or keeps the victim in a situation of exploitation or vulnerability and causes significant…

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