Interview with Diane Schmitt, EU Anti-Trafficking Coordinator
Vienna, Austria – 12 February 2022 - You have been in this position now since July 2021, what attracted you to this post? When the position was proposed to me, I did not hesitate because trafficking in human beings is a terrible crime with too many victims and a lot of suffering. I was also attracted as it is an area, in which you closely cooperate with many different stakeholders and interlocutors. I am working with UN institutions, with EU agencies like EUROPOL, Frontex, and Eurojust, but also with different authorities in EU Member States, with national rapporteurs, with civil society organizations and the private sector. Addressing trafficking in human beings is about justice, it is about security, it is about migration, it is about support of victims.
You have been in the post now nearly seven months, what would you say have been the inspiring parts of your work? It is a challenge and I always like challenges. I think what mostly inspiring is that you work with very motivated people and different stakeholders and I am really impressed by the motivation they have to address this terrible crime. But also what is positive is the fact that it is not controversial. Everyone agrees that something must be done about this crime. Everyone agrees that victims need support and must be protected and everyone agrees that criminals must be punished. In my previous position, dealing with migration, it is extremely politicized and complicated, not everyone agrees on what the final objective should be and how it should be reached.
What about the most difficult aspects of this role over the past seven months? Firstly, I had to bring together a new team. I am very happy that now we have a full-fledged team with very competent colleagues. A main challenge relating to addressing trafficking in human beings is the fact that the crime is happening more and more online with the recruitment of victims, the exploitation of victims, and money laundering. So the online dimension has a big importance now and brings with it also new challenges.
What are the main priorities that you want to address in this position?There are four priority areas in the EU strategy and it is very difficult to make a choice between these four priority areas because you must address this crime from different angles. The first one is reducing the demand, so the whole prevention aspect. The second is breaking the business model of the criminals, the traffickers. We have also to work with the private sector to reach results. The third priority is the protection and support of the victims, and especially women and children. The fourth is the partnership with EU and non-EU countries, and with other international actors at the global level.
How can the European Union and UNODC work together towards our common goal to prevent and address human trafficking? UNODC has great expertise and knowledge about trafficking in human beings, and I must say this knowledge and this expertise is also a great help for us. UNODC is doing in-depth reports and studies on different subjects, which help us to better understand the problem. UNODC has operational projects on the ground, which can also help to make a difference. During my visit to Vienna, I had extremely interesting discussions. I had the pleasure to meet UNODC Executive Director Ghada Waly and the whole team dealing directly with trafficking in human beings and smuggling of migrants. I think the cooperation we had already in the first seven months will certainly continue in a very positive spirit.
Could you tell me about some of the current challenges to successfully combating this crime within the EU setting? There are different challenges, and the online challenge will be one of our priorities. We must work together with internet and social media companies to try to find solutions. Another challenge is the identification of victims. It is not always easy, and we must see how we can improve the situation including trafficking in mixed migration flows. The third big challenge is linked to the prosecution and conviction of traffickers. The number is quite low and that is something we would like to improve together with law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, Eurojust and EUROPOL.
Will you have the opportunity to meet victims of trafficking or frontline workers? In my career, it is extremely important to speak directly with citizens and those who are really concerned and I was able to do this in meetings and conferences in the past. I would like to have the opportunity, in the future, to have more direct encounter with victims, including perhaps going to visit shelters and learning about their specific experiences. It is also important for me to hear from other people, for example from police officers and lawyers who are in direct contact with victims. Also from NGOs who are often the first contact point of the victims. It is important to hear from all these people, so that we can better understand what the problems are. We cannot solve everything, but we are here to help.
One of the UNODC initiatives that the EU supports is the Global Action against Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants (GLO.ACT). What do you hope to achieve by funding such actions? Firstly, I would like to underline that it is very important to have projects which make a real difference on the ground for the victims and for the criminals. It is also important to have projects that make a difference in terms of cooperation between the EU and different authorities, for example from the law enforcement sector, in states outside of Europe and in the countries of origin, transit, and destination of victims. This is why the European Union is providing funding to an initiative such as GLO.ACT.
In accordance with UNODC data, human trafficking happens all over the world including in the European Union. What are the current trends within the EU as a destination and as a source region? I think we should not forget that almost half of the victims who are trafficked within the European Union are EU citizens, and many of them are trafficked within their own state. This also means that over half, so 56%, of the victims in the European Union are non-EU citizens. In the European Union, most victims are women and girls trafficked for sexual exploitation, but we should not in ignore labour exploitation, which has increased lately.Obviously as EU Anti-trafficking Coordinator, I am also working very closely with the colleagues who are dealing with the external dimension because trafficking in human beings does not stop at the borders of the European Union. We have seen different migration flows towards the European Union lately. We had the big migration flows in the years 2015 and 2016 and then it started again two years ago but not in the same dimension. These people, who often pay smugglers, are in a vulnerable situation and at risk of falling into the hands of traffickers who will exploit them either when they arrive in Europe or when they are en route, and it is very important to identify people who are being exploited.
What are the current risk factors within Europe that are leading people into the hands of traffickers? First, as I said before, the online dimension is extremely important and with COVID children and adults are staying at home and tele-working. They are spending much more time online and so obviously there are traffickers who will use this opportunity to recruit people. Obviously, there are certain vulnerabilities that can come from the economic situation, especially in the context of labour exploitation, and it is very important to address the factors behind these vulnerabilities. Our intention is also to do an awareness raising campaign in EU Member States. I think it is very important to make people aware that if they go to a specific website, they may be taking a risk. Or if they get a proposal for a job without any security, they might fall into the hands of people who exploit them.
Progress has indeed been made, but do you sometimes get the impression that the traffickers are always one step ahead of the institutions trying to stop them? I do not think that we are a step behind. But I think the world in general is evolving and traffickers of course take advantage of new opportunities, and we must adapt too. The online dimension presents now new opportunities for traffickers and lesser risk for them, so it is exploited. But we should not ignore that new technologies also help us and help law enforcement authorities and judicial authorities to exchange information and to access technologies which help them to identify online content. But also in the offline dimension, new technologies can be used to track down the business model of traffickers and confiscate their money. So I think everyone uses available opportunities to do their job, unfortunately criminals also use the opportunities which are offered.
Diane Schmitt was appointed as EU Anti-Trafficking Coordinator in July 2021. She joined the European Commission in 1992 and has held different positions, mainly in the area of migration, security, and justice. From 2014 until 2019, she was Head of Cabinet of the European Commissioner in charge of Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship. After the Cabinet, she used her experience in the Directorate General for Migration and Home Affairs as Adviser for Enhancing External and Internal Policy Aspects of Migration and Security. The EU Anti-Trafficking Coordinator is responsible for improving coordination and coherence among EU institutions, EU agencies, Member States and international actors, and for developing existing and new EU policies to address Trafficking in Human Beings. This includes monitoring the implementation of the EU Strategy on Combatting Trafficking in Human Beings 2021-2025.The EU and its Member States are party to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its supplementing Protocols on Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants.
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