Citation

Smartt U. Eur. J. Crime Crim. Law Crim. Justice 2003; 11(2): 164-177.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, Brill Academic Publishers)

DOI

10.1163/157181703322604767

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article analyzes the occurrence of human trafficking in Europe. During the 1980s, a debate opened up about the meaning of the concept of free movement of persons enshrined in the Treaty of Rome 1957. Some Member States felt that this should apply to European Union (EU) citizens only, which would involve keeping internal border checks in order to distinguish between citizens of the EU and non-EU nationals. Others argued in favor of free movement for everyone, which would mean an end to internal border checks altogether. The Schengen Agreement was signed in 1985 in the village of Schengen, on the borders of Luxembourg, France and Germany. Having decided to implement the intention expressed in that agreement of bringing about the abolition of checks at their common borders on the free movement of persons and facilitating the transport and movement of goods, it could be argued that the Schengen acquis has made it easier for human traffickers to break down internal EU borders in the true spirit of the agreement, after all Schengen's main purpose was to remove all controls at internal land, sea and airport frontiers. As of 2003, there are about 3-4.5 million people living in the EU without any legal papers, with an estimated 400,000 people a year being trafficked into Member States.