Belgium
- Generally
- Excerpt from the questionnaire
- Contacts
Even though Belgium has not yet appointed a national rapporteur, there are public bodies having its role.
The Centre for equal opportunities and opposition to racism (Le Centre pour l’Egalité des chances et la lutte contre le racisme) is a public body in charge of promoting equal opportunities and combating racism. In 1995, by an act approved on April 13, 1995, Belgian legislators decided to appoint the Centre for equal opportunities and opposition to racism as the authority to provide information on trafficking in human beings in Belgium. That is why, since 1996, the Centre has been issuing independent annual reports on trafficking in human beings in Belgium. Currently, this mission is defined by a royal decree of 1996.
Apart from that, the government is obliged to submit to the parliament (also pursuant to the act of April 13, 1995) reports on the enforcement of measures to combat trafficking in human beings in Belgium (biennial reports). The report is drafted by the Department of Criminal Policy, which has an autonomous status within the Ministry of Justice. The same Department is also in charge of evaluating the anti-trafficking policies for the purposes of the Collegium of Prosecutors General (Collège des Procureurs).
There are two national reports covering the area of trafficking in human beings: the independent annual report (drafted by the Centre for equal opportunities and opposition to racism) and the biennial report submitted to the government (drafted by Department of criminal policy at the Ministry of justice).
First, the annual reports drafted by the Centre are a valuable source of information for the experts working in the field. They describe modus operandi of the criminals, new trends in crime and in prosecution, etc. Secondly, the reports draw the authorities’ attention to the most burning issues and simultaneously propose measures to be taken to improve the anti-trafficking activities and to enhance the victim support. We may say that such reports take over most of the „reporting“. So the question is not of whether to appoint a national rapporteur or not. First, the authorities should determine the tasks and responsibilities of such a body and, as the next step, define which bodies have the capacity to fulfil these tasks and responsibilities. There is not a single solution here and it is up to every member state to define the „national rapporteur“ so that its tasks and responsibilities may be taken over by the existing bodies or by institutions the state wishes to establish. By all means, it is highly recommended to appoint a national rapporteur or an equivalent mechanism and to give it adequate tasks and responsibilities.
The annual reposts drafted by the Centre are submitted to the government, the parliament, and all stakeholders. Representatives of the Centre are often invited to appear in the parliament to present the annual report. Every year, upon the release of the new annual report, the Centre organizes a press conference which is almost every year followed by parliamentary interpellations.
The government has taken on board several recommendations in the past years’ reports by the Centre. For example, the government accepted and embedded in the Belgian action plan to combat trafficking in human beings the recommendation to establish a working group to analyze the demand and to perform complex analyses of criminal networks as well as analyses of financing. The government also adopted several recommendations concerning necessary changes in legislation. Last but not least, the Centre is a member of the Interagency committee to combat trafficking in human beings and acts as its secretariat. Therefore it can propose points on the agenda of the interagency committee meetings it wishes to debate. The Department of criminal policy, on the other hand, chairs the interagency committee board and is therefore also represented.
Article 3 of the royal decree of May 16th, 2004 stipulates that the Centre shall coordinate and monitor cooperation among individual approved private organizations dedicated to the support and assistance of victims of trafficking in human beings. The Centre therefore organizes regular meetings with victim support centres in order to coordinate measures and steps to be taken and to identify potential problems.
Status of institutions involved
The Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism is a public body. It was established pursuant by an act of April 15th, 1993 and it is fully independent. Next to its responsibilities in the area of combating racism and other forms of discrimination, the Centre has been, since 1995, in charge of a specific task to support, coordinate, and monitor the policy of combating trafficking in human beings. The royal decree of May 16th, 2004 on combating trafficking in human beings specifies the tasks and responsibilities of the Centre as follows: to create an independent and public annual evaluation report on the development and results of anti-trafficking measures to be submitted to the government and the parliament.
Apart from that and in line with Article 12 of the act of April 13th, 1995 which guides the area of combating trafficking in human beings and child pornography, the Centre shall, as required by the government, submit to the parliament its annual report on the enforcement of the above mentioned act and on the achievements in the field of combating trafficking in human beings in general. The act of August 10th, 2005, which amends selected provisions of law with the objective to make the anti-trafficking measures more efficient, stipulated that the above mentioned reports shall be submitted once in two years.
These reports drafted in cooperation with the Department of Criminal Policy (an independent department of the Ministry of Justice). For that reason, the Department circulates a biennial questionnaire to all relevant stakeholders - institutions and bodies – in order to collect information on measures taken in order to combat trafficking in human beings and their potential improvement. The report, however, goes much deeper into the issue and covers numerous topics.
Financing
The Centre for equal opportunities and opposition to racism is a public and fully independent body. It is financed from the government budget. It has one section which is dedicated exclusively to the issue of combating trafficking in human beings. The budget covers staff and operational costs. The Department of Criminal Policy is a part of the Ministry of Justice and its activities are covered by the ministry budget.
Contents of the reports
Both the Centre annual report and the government report are public. Both reports (the annual by the Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism and the biennial government report) are submitted to the government. The Centre submits its report also to the government and to all relevant stakeholders. On top of it, the Centre regularly presents it annual report at a press conference.
Centre for equal opportunities and opposition to racism report: the contents of the report vary from year to year. It very much depends on what are the current most burning issues. There are, however, issues which repeat every year, such as case analyses, legislative issues, case law, etc.
The report draws a clear picture of the development of the phenomenon, trends, and modus operandi of the criminal gangs. It analyses individual cases and files in which the Centre acted as one of the parties, and provides contacts to the key persons. The analysis also evaluates measures introduced in the field (law enforcement measures as well as humanitarian assistance). It facilitates a critical view of the new legislation in the given field and analyses selected court judgements. Problems and challenges related to the international cooperation are commented on under the parts dedicated to the analysis of individual cases.
In its report of December 2004, „Analysis from the victim’s point of view“, the Centre analysed primarily the Chinese and Iranian criminal networks and the trafficking in minors.
In its report published in November 2005, “The Belgian policy in the field of trafficking in human beings, strong and weak points“, the Centre analysed the government policy based on the views and opinions of a group of EU experts. The 2006 annual report (published in July under the title „Victims in the headlight”) mostly elaborates on repeating issues (critical approach to the most recent changes in legislation, case analyses, and case law). What makes the report unique is that it contains appendices reporting on a „victims of trafficking in human beings“ database research.
The database was put together by the Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to racism in cooperation with three specialized reception centres (Pag-asa, Payoke, and Sürya). The research provides valuable answers to questions concerning the victim of trafficking in human beings profile, i.e. concerning people reception centres take care of. It covers the entire period from the reception day up to the final day of assistance.
Lastly, in its most recent annual report (2007 annual report: trafficking in human beings, the government policy from the national rapporteur’s point of view) the Centre presented a critical analysis of the Belgian policy. The analysis is based on a questionnaire („Measuring Responses to Trafficking in Human Beings in the European Union: An Assessment Manual“), distributed on October 18th, 2008 at the first “European anti-trafficking day”. The analysis evaluates various aspects of the policy (trafficking in human beings policy in general, prevention measures, activities to rescue victims of trafficking in human beings, assistance to these victims, and prevention strategies). The second part of the report is an analysis of new trends in sexual exploitation, and the third part is devoted to the 2007 case law. The report makes altogether twelve principal recommendations to the public authorities.
For the above reports in French and Dutch please visit the Centre web pages at: http://www.diversite.be (the 2005 report is also in English).
Government report: the objective of the government report is to help all stakeholders involved in combating trafficking in human beings to identify the right moment(s) to intervene and to describe, in detail and by ways of answering various questions in the text, all its initiatives and activities undertaken in the given period.
For example, the 2004 annual report focuses on the route taken by the victims from their country of origin to the country of destination. The reason why the authorities decided to focus on this particular issue was that the government report is to a certain extent an answer to questions posed by the Centre for equal opportunities and opposition to racism annual report for 2004. In the report, we find data submitted by various stakeholders, such as the numbers of checks performed by the Police or the Labour Inspectorates (the Federal Police – Federal Committee Against Illegal Employment). It also contains information on efforts in the area of development cooperation, international initiatives, etc.
The 2005-2006 annual report, which will be publicized at the beginning of 2009, is approached as an analysis of tools and mechanisms introduced to optimise the fight against criminal gangs and networks active in the field of trafficking in human beings. That is why the report centres on the financial investigation. The reason behind this is primarily in the Centre report which insisted on an analysis of the financial side of trafficking in human beings in order to strike against the very heart of the crime. One part of the questionnaire asked the respondents questions concerning various aspects of laundering of proceeds from the organised crime of trafficking in human beings. In order to better describe the Belgian anti-trafficking policy, the questionnaire asked many supplementary questions concerning prevention, law enforcement, assistance provided to victims of trafficking in human beings, etc. Last but not least, the report contains various court statistics.
The next report is for 2007-2008
For the recently published reports in French and Dutch please visit the Department of Criminal Policy web pages, part criminalité (traite des êtres humains): http://www.politiquecriminelle.be or http://www.dsb-spc.be/.
The double reporting has many different advantages: the Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism, which submits its own independent report, enjoys more freedom in drafting its document. Its report is a critical analysis of the recent policy development complemented by recommendations. The government report, on the other hand, includes government own information based on analyses performed by public bodies (evaluation of prosecution of trafficking in human beings, evaluation of control activities, etc...)
Above all, the two reports should optimally mirror each other. The first one would target its questions at the government and the second one would propose directions to be taken and answer the questions submitted by the first one.
Last but not least, you should note that most stakeholders, who contribute to the report, are members of the Interagency committee to combat trafficking in human beings. Its role of the national „task force“ facilitates an on-going exchange of views on policies implemented.