NCJ Number
178844
Journal
Transnational Organized Crime Volume: 3 Issue: 4 Dated: Winter 1997 Pages: 189-213
Editor(s)
Phil Williams
Date Published
1997
Length
25 pages
Annotation
The fusing of immigration and crime issues into an "internal security continuum" has become a defining element in both institution-building and substantive policy responses among member states of the European Union (EU); this paper is concerned with the process of fusion and the problems it poses for cooperation in the fight against trafficking in women across member states' borders.
Abstract
Fusion, it is argued, creates significant institutional and political barriers to greater cooperation and obscures the human rights and civil liberties violations involved in many migration issues. In spite of these difficulties, however, there has been a concerted effort to advance cooperation among member states in the case of the trafficking in women. This paper analyzes the position of this issue on the EU's internal-security agenda and its links to the EU's future enlargement. Also, the nature of the EU's response to the trafficking issue is examined, establishing whether political rhetoric has been matched by policy development and implementation. The author argues that as problematic as it is, the fusion of immigration and crime issues is apparently so central to the trafficking in women that a multidisciplinary response is the only appropriate solution. The EU's ability to combine the strengths of its supranational institutions and its member states to create a comprehensive program of financial, social, frontier control, and law enforcement measures testifies to the potential of justice and home-affairs cooperation. The proof of the successful management of the "fusion," however, will come with evidence of changes to national legislation and widespread program implementation. 67 notes