European Union Announces Green Initiative

José Manuel Barroso announced on January 23 that the EU will be pursuing a comprehensive environmental regulation strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2020. His speech, entitled “20 20 by 2020: Europe’s Climate Change Opportunity” set the goal of reducing greenhouse gases by 20% and reaching 20% usage of renewable fuels. The methods employed in achieving these goals will include a new Emissions Trading System, binding national emissions targets, and a 10% target for biofuel usage.

The cost of the plan is estimated to be less than .5% of the EU’s GDP, or about 3 Euro per citizen per week.

See the original press release here. See the BBC coverage here.

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European Union Extends Borders

The Schengen zone of countries expanded on Friday, December 21 to include Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, and Malta. Border controls are no longer necessary between these countries and the other members of the Schengen zone.

The nine countries admitted to the Schengen Agreement were approved on December 6, 2007 after visits by experts from the Council of Europe provided evidence that all aspects of Schengen acquis were being applied. The Schengen criteria include evaluation of external border control, visas, data protection, police cooperation and implementation of the Schengen Information System (SIS).

Visitors from third countries with a visa or residence permit in any of the nine countries admitted will now be able to travel by land or sea throughout the Schengen area. Airport border controls will reflect the new changes as of March 30, 2008.

Schengen evaluation is still in progress for Bulgaria, Romania, and Cyprus. There is no definite schedule for their admission. The full press release is available here.

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UN Convenes First-Ever Global Forum on Human Trafficking

On February 13, some 1200 experts, legislators, law enforcement officials, business leaders, NGO representatives, celebrities, and trafficking victims convened in Vienna, Austria for the first-ever UN global forum against human trafficking.  Giving remarks ahead of the February 13-15 forum, Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Antonio Maria Costa explained that human trafficking is widespread throughout the global economic system.  Yet because of the lack of information about human trafficking, Mr. Costa called it “a monster whose shape, size and ferocity we can only guess.”  It often accompanies other unlawful activities, including illegal migration, forced labor, pedophilia, child exploitation, and organized prostitution.

“It’s time for the world to open its eyes to this form of modern slavery,” declared Mr. Costa.  “Moral outrage [alone] is not going to stop the traffickers; we need high impact law enforcement measures to make human trafficking a riskier business.”

Forum participants are discussing practical measures of preventing human trafficking and bringing perpetrators to justice.  Measures under consideration include tracking and blocking Internet payments for human trafficking transactions; developing technology to pinpoint frequently used trafficking routes; help-lines to report suspected child prostitution or sex slavery; codes of conduct to curb sex tourism; and efforts to stop the forced removal and trade of human organs.

In a related development, UNODC launched a manual, Good Practices in the Protection of Witnesses in Criminal Proceedings Involving Organized Crime, aimed at helping countries develop comprehensive programs for the protection of victims and witnesses of crime.  Witness protection programs can be a key tool in the dismantling of human trafficking networks.

More on these stories is available here and here.

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