solutions

eu policy

As described by the European Commission’s Fight against Trafficking in Human Beings website, existing European Union policy takes a three-pronged approach to solving the issue of human trafficking. The website lists these three points as

1.     legal measures

2.     international cooperation (especially with victims' countries of origin)

3.     other measures (funding, awareness-raising, statistics)*

*points quoted from http://ec.europa.eu/anti-trafficking/section.action?sectionId=4a9449a0-d711-40c8-9569-4616921d9e84&sectionType=LIST_ENTITIES_SQUARE_IMAGES\

The legal measures portion of EU policy includes measures such as strengthening the EU definition of human trafficking, decriminalization of trafficking victims, preventative efforts, and increased aid for victims through more effective victim identification and means of rehabilitation for victims. Past EU legislation has worked to solidify EU policy toward the issue and ensure proper implementation of goals and policy throughout the borders of the European Union. Further EU actions such as the establishment of the annual EU Anti-Trafficking Day in 2007 as well as the EU Anti-Trafficking Coordinator in the Stockholm Programme in 2009 indicate steps to strengthen EU policy and strategy and raise awareness throughout the EU about human trafficking. The European Union has also collaborated with other states and external bodies through international legislation, bilateral agreements, funding, and other actions. 

theoretical perspectives 

• The feminist paradigm seeks policy that serves the interests of the individual, and often critiques much existing legislation as being state-seeking under the guise of serving and protecting the security of the individual. The European's existing legal measures for the most part line up with the interests of the feminist paradigm. In her article about the feminist viewpoint on trafficking in persons, Lobasz points out that trafficking victims are often regarded as criminals in terms of legal action and explains that "feminists protest the still too common treatment of trafficked individuals." Therefore the feminist paradigm particularly supports EU legislation that aims to eliminate the application of penalties for crimes often charged to trafficked persons, which often have to do with illegal migration and falsification of documents. 
• The realist paradigm would be interested primarily in legislation and actions that seek to protect the interests of the state. Therefore, in dealing with human trafficking, realists would likely be more concerned with producing legislation that protects the states' borders.  Realists would view trafficking victims primarily as threats to border security and would thus likely not be in favor of a large portion of the EU's current legal actions. Realists would stand opposite the feminist paradigm regarding the EU legal actions, taking particular issue with that which aims for eradication of penalties migration and document violations for trafficking victims. 
• As the EU is an international institution, existing EU policy finds the most support in the liberal institutionalist paradigm. Liberal institutionalists would be in favor of EU efforts toward international cooperation on this issue. Particularly of note for the liberal institutionalist paradigm would be the development and implementation of EU-wide policy on combating human trafficking. The creation of an EU-wide definition of human trafficking and the participation in agreements with other states as well as non-state actors are in line with liberal institutionalist interests.