THE HAGUE, Netherlands, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- British Solicitor General Harriet Harman called Wednesday for a European crackdown on trafficking in girls and young women for enforced prostitution.
Harman made her proposals at a meeting in the Hague of Eurojust, an EU body introduced in 2002 to increase collaboration between European public prosecution services.
Urging closer cooperation among international prosecutors, she presented a three-part plan to combat trafficking, comprising protection for victims, more effective prosecution of traffickers and seizing proceeds of the crime.
In an interview with The Guardian, Harman said a radical law enforcement approach is needed, whereby men who have sex with underage and trafficked women could be prosecuted.
Trafficking in young women and girls is one of the fastest-growing international crimes, "organized by serious criminals," Harman said.
She said European countries have to work together.
"We have to coordinate. Trafficking is by definition an international crime," she said. "We are talking about women of one nationality dragged across Europe by traffickers of another nationality."
