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USA CONSIDERS CZECH REP TARGET COUNTRY IN TRADE IN PEOPLE
Czech News Agency
June 3, 2005
WASHINGTON/PRAGUE, June 3 (CTK) - The United States continues to
consider the Czech Republic a source and target country of trade
in people, but it ranks it in the best of three groups into which
it divides countries according to their effort to fight the evil,
says an annual report by the U.S. State Department.
This is the fifth such report and the department works it out under
the law on the protection of victims of trade in people.
Slovakia is ranked in the second group, which means that developments
there are a source of worries to Washington and that sanctions could
be imposed on it if the situation worsened.
The same group includes Russia, Ukraine, Greece, Azerbaijan, Armenia
and Uzbekistan.
According to the report which CTK got from the U.S. embassy in Prague,
the Czech Republic is a source, transitory as well as target country
of trade in women and children.
They are illegally brought from Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Moldova,
Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, China and Vietnam mainly for
sexual abuse and prostitution.
The report also says that intra-state trade in people is extensive
and that mainly Romany women are a risk group of victims.
The Czech Republic meets the fundamental demands of the fight against
trade in people because the government reinforced the relevant
legislation in 2004 and raised the pilot programme of aid to the
victims of trade in people to the national level, the report says.
It notes an improvement in legislation and in the work of the police,
but points out that the number of cases taken to courts and the
sentences handed out have remained low.
According to the report, the Czech police investigated 30 cases and
prosecuted 19 perpetrators on suspicion of committing the criminal
offence of trading in people last year.
Courts convicted 12 perpetrators compared to five in 2003.
Out of the 12 convicts, three got unconditional sentences from three
to five years in prison and nine got suspended sentences.
Though no civil servant was accused, it is alleged that border officers
help illegal people smugglers, the report says.
It says that help to the victims and their protection does not meet
minimal requirements in Slovakia.
Though the government is preparing a national plan of fighting trade
in people, it is still too early to guess its efficiency.
Czech News Agency
June 3, 2005
WASHINGTON/PRAGUE, June 3 (CTK) - The United States continues to
consider the Czech Republic a source and target country of trade
in people, but it ranks it in the best of three groups into which
it divides countries according to their effort to fight the evil,
says an annual report by the U.S. State Department.
This is the fifth such report and the department works it out under
the law on the protection of victims of trade in people.
Slovakia is ranked in the second group, which means that developments
there are a source of worries to Washington and that sanctions could
be imposed on it if the situation worsened.
The same group includes Russia, Ukraine, Greece, Azerbaijan, Armenia
and Uzbekistan.
According to the report which CTK got from the U.S. embassy in Prague,
the Czech Republic is a source, transitory as well as target country
of trade in women and children.
They are illegally brought from Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Moldova,
Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, China and Vietnam mainly for
sexual abuse and prostitution.
The report also says that intra-state trade in people is extensive
and that mainly Romany women are a risk group of victims.
The Czech Republic meets the fundamental demands of the fight against
trade in people because the government reinforced the relevant
legislation in 2004 and raised the pilot programme of aid to the
victims of trade in people to the national level, the report says.
It notes an improvement in legislation and in the work of the police,
but points out that the number of cases taken to courts and the
sentences handed out have remained low.
According to the report, the Czech police investigated 30 cases and
prosecuted 19 perpetrators on suspicion of committing the criminal
offence of trading in people last year.
Courts convicted 12 perpetrators compared to five in 2003.
Out of the 12 convicts, three got unconditional sentences from three
to five years in prison and nine got suspended sentences.
Though no civil servant was accused, it is alleged that border officers
help illegal people smugglers, the report says.
It says that help to the victims and their protection does not meet
minimal requirements in Slovakia.
Though the government is preparing a national plan of fighting trade
in people, it is still too early to guess its efficiency.