La Strada International NGO Platform

Written on 17 January 2022.

On 16 and 17 September, La Strada International (LSI) organised its annual meeting in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. LSI members discussed LSI’s new strategic plan and focus areas, the network’s due diligence strategy, and European advocacy and developments in the anti-trafficking field, including the evaluation of the EU Trafficking directive and the proposal for a new EU directive on violence against women. Separate workshops were organised to discuss joint data collection, outreach work and NGO cooperation on referral of trafficked persons; amplifying the voices of trafficked persons; strategic litigation and third-party intervention as well as ‘the basis for reasonable grounds’.

Also in September, La Strada International provided feedback to the European Commission consultation on human trafficking and (potential) revisions of the EU Anti-Trafficking Directive. LSI highlighted the gaps in the implementation of the current Directive and that a potential revision may be used by EU member states to undermine the rights provisions that trafficked persons are currently afforded. Another concern is that the main reason for a revision seems to be the wish for mandatory criminalisation of the use of services, which are the objects of exploitation, with the knowledge that the person is a victim of trafficking. La Strada International opposes this idea, as the measure seems so far mainly used as a way to address prostitution and has not resulted any positive impact. LSI expressed concerns that if such sanctions were imposed in relation to all forms of human trafficking, anyone could be held criminally liable for buying goods, products or services for everyday use, produced within the global supply chain by workers in extremely precarious and exploitative conditions.

Our members KOK and  ESWA submitted contributions to the European Commission consultation too.