EU justice and interior ministers today agreed on what constitutes the crime of trafficking in human beings but not on how it should be punished, Swedish Justice Minister Mr Thomas Bodstrom said.
After the day-long ministerial meeting Mr Bodstrom, whose country presides the EU until June 30th, said he and his counterparts had fine-combed a draft EU edict on human trafficking.
Ministers had widely divergent views on a minimum penalty, particularly in serious cases such as the discovery last summer of the bodies of 58 Chinese immigrants in a container in which they were being smuggled into Britain.
Dutchman Mr Perry Wacker (33), the truck's driver,was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 14 years imprisonment.
The 15 ministers agreed today such trafficking was and should be treated as a crime as defined by the United Nations.
But they left to lower officials to find agreement on standardised penalties since almost all trafficking cases involve more than one EU country.
Several ministers said in order to reach a decision they needed comparative studies of legislation currently in force in EU countries and its application, said a European source.
Mr Bodstrom said the definition of human trafficking accepted by the 15 largely corresponded to principles adopted by the UN, notably the recruitment, housing and transport of persons for labour or sexual exploitation, particularly women and children.
AFP