EU prepares for international women’s day

The EU is gearing up for international women’s day on Wednesday with a campaign to crack down on gangs that traffic women.

MEPs are calling on Europol to prevent the trafficking of women into Germany to work as prostitutes during this summer's World Cup.

Germany is hosting the football extravaganza in June but it is feared that thousands of women, many of them under the age of consent, will arrive in the country to meet the demand for paid sex during the competition.

Mary Honeyball MEP said the practice was tantamount to slavery.

"We have a duty to shout loud, expose the disgrace of trafficking and put the authorities under such pressure that they cannot turn a blind eye to it.”

MEPs are supporting an online petition calling on European commission president José Manuel Barroso to exert pressure on governments to tighten up border controls.

International women’s day takes place on Wednesday March 8.

Few causes promoted by the UN have engendered more intense and widespread support than the campaign to protect the equal rights of women.

In Brussels MEPs are set to discuss reproductive health and sexual education during a hearing in the parliament.

The international trade union movement is also set to launch a campaign aimed at tackling labour inequality.

“Ever fewer jobs in the formal economy together with persistent discrimination on the labour market have pushed millions of female workers into the informal economy and export processing zones, renowned for the appalling working conditions, fierce anti-unionism, job insecurity and the general climate of fear,” the ICFTU warned in a statement.  

• Previous article
• Next article