STATEMENT

We are seventy women and men, from twenty-seven European countries, representing churches, agencies and ecumenical organisations which are anxious to address the rapidly growing problem of the trafficking in women in Europe.

In the past ten years, new political and economic configurations in Europe have led to a massive increase in the trafficking in women from poorer countries to richer ones, for the purposes of forced labour, forced marriage or forced prostitution. All countries in the region are involved, either as countries of origin, countries of destination, or as countries of transition where travel documents and marriage certificates may be obtained. Because of the secrecy surrounding the trade, exact numbers involved are not available, but NGO and police sources believe that over 100,000 Eastern European women and girls are living outside their own countries, plus an increasing number of women from Southern Europe and the Balkans, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia. Those who employ them, both men and women, come from all sections of society, including the churches, but the culture of silence is such that there is little public awareness that this is the fact.

Such women may be lured into leaving their countries by promises of well paid jobs or glittering marriages, only to find, on arrival in the country of destination, that they have, in effect, been sold into slavery. Subject to abuse, violence or sexual exploitation, they may be kept in virtual imprisonment, their passports taken from them, and in constant fear that if they do manage to contact the authorities they may end up in jail. A woman who manages to return to her place of origin may fear reprisals to herself or her family, and live in terror that details of her past, if they are known, may prevent her from marrying or living an otherwise normal life in her "home" country. Meanwhile, the "traders" who have negotiated the deal may earn between US$ 200 and US$ 5000 per trafficked woman.

The year 1999 has been named by the European Union as the Year Against Violence Against Women, with trafficking in women as a priority issue. Member countries are urged to prioritise the issue by developing appropriate policy and by educating their officers on policing, immigration, border controls and so on. In Eastern and Southern European countries, and in the Balkans, there is a need for care for victims of trafficking, and education and awareness-raising among potential victims. The issue needs to be on the agenda of the Council of Europe, and of the Organisation of Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), as a major human rights concern. Public pressure on governments is needed, if they are to persuaded to respond to these initiatives.

Churches may contribute to the solution by promoting awareness of the problem, but they are also part of the problem. Most find it impossible to acknowledge the existence of sexual abuse in their own communities and homes, and yet hidden among their members, protected by the culture of silence, they include perpetrators as well as victims of trafficking. It is not only from issues of sexual abuse that they shrink. Most have difficulties with sexuality generally. In a continent whose cultures were shaped within Christian traditions and theologies, among churches whose structures, liturgies and assumptions affirm unequal power relations between women and men, we find ourselves questioning whether the god we worship is really the passionate, creative God who "created humankind in God's image: in the image of God, God created them; male and female, God created them" (Genesis 1). Far from embodying Christ's message of compassion and of love, we are bound to ask whether Christian traditions and theologies have not contributed, instead, to the development and maintenance of cultures which enable churches and individual Christians to sanction the coercion and abuse of women with a clear conscience.

We know, too, that the churches are often highly effective at lobbying, education and pastoral support of victims. Their potential is great. Through the international denominational bodies, through the Conference of European Churches (CEC), through the Council of European Bishops' Conferences (CCEE) of the Roman Catholic Church, through the Ecumenical Forum of European Christian Women and other ecumenical agencies, they have transnational links and networks which connect them with communities and with all levels of the problem.

We believe that churches have the obligation to provide a counter-cultural impetus in times of political and social change. We recognise the trafficking in women as a moral outrage and a violation of human rights. It is also an abuse of bodies, minds and spirits which are the temple of the Holy Spirit and the dwelling place of the incarnate Christ. We believe that the issue has implications for our theology, our diaconal commitment, and our relationship with political and social institutions. These implications challenge our vision of the church itself: the household of God in which all have a place and all are honoured. We believe that trafficking in women is becoming an urgent issue for the churches, which have, we believe, the capacity to become effective opponents of violence against women, and to redeem the spiritual and moral climate which makes it possible.

We therefore call upon CEC to ensure that the issue of trafficking in women becomes an on-going part of its agenda.

Further, we call upon CEC, its members, CCEE, the Churches Committee for MIgrants in Europe (CCME) and other appropriate ecumenical bodies to include trafficking in women among their priorities, and to commit themselves to the following challenges.

1. To support and promote a document setting out the background to the issue of trafficking in women, its root causes and the social and theological thinking on it, giving suggestions for action and providing information about networks that exist, relating it to the broader issues of violence against women, poverty, slavery, human rights and criminal activity.

2. To give priority to the issue of trafficking in women within the context of the WCC's Decade To Overcome Violence (2001-2010).

3. To produce a leaflet on trafficking in women, including addresses where help (professional or otherwise) can be found. It should also include a list of appropriate regional NGOs and their activities.

4. To promote research and the gathering of information on trafficking in women.

5. To set up, within the framework of CEC, a working group on trafficking in women, and to follow up the joint CEC/CCEE letter on violence against women of June 1999. To explore the possibility of an ecumenical commission on trafficking in women.

6. To promote understanding of the responsibility of churches within Europe for drawing attention to the injustices emerging from new political and economic configurations: in particular the unequal wealth relations within Europe, which is a primary cause of growth in trafficking in women.

7. To promote, within the framework of CEC, theological discussion among women and men on trafficking in women, in order to unmask the ideology of profit and consumerism in the global market economy, and to challenge this by developing a positive theology of embodiment, sexuality and incarnation. This (theological) task has relevance to the power relations between women and men in both church and society.

8. To encourage nationally and internationally based information and pressure groups, exploring the potential of electronic media for expanding networking activity in creative ways.

9. To promote education on trafficking in women, particularly among men and boys. 10. To make churches aware of the possibility of opening their premises as safe shelters to victims of trafficking.

11. To explore the possibility of using videos and use other visual media to publicise the issue of trafficking in women.

12. To allocate resources, especially financial ones, for the above.

13. To encourage further discussion on the undoubted existence within churches and parishes of "buyers" of sexual services and the implications of this for the community of women and men in the church.