The Council of Europe Committee on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings held its third meeting on February 3 through 5, 2004, at the Human Rights Building in Strasbourg.  The Committee aims to draw up a European Convention on action against human trafficking.  At the meeting, the committee discussed methods of protecting the rights of trafficking victims, including both gender equality and criminal law measures.

For more information on the work of the committee, please see the website of the Council of Europe.  For more information about Council of Europe action in the area of human trafficking, please see the Trafficking Law and Policy section of this website.

Romania's Ministry of Administration and the Interior, the United Nations Development Program and the U.S. Agency for International Development have launched a program designed to promote cooperation among Southeastern European countries in the fight against human trafficking.  The program involves the distribution of a manual to law enforcement officials and prosecutors with the goal of improving efforts to protect trafficking victims who agree to provide information or testify in connection with the investigation and prosecution of trafficking offenses.  The manual has been included in law enforcement training curricula in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Serbia and Montenegro, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Slovenia, Turkey, the Ukraine and the U.N. Protectorate of Kosovo.

For more information, see the UNDP Press Release here.  For more information about international and domestic efforts to fight human trafficking, see the Trafficking Law and Policy section of this website.

On 25 February 2004, Estonia ratified Protocol No. 13 to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms concerning the abolition of the death penalty.

For more information about Estonia's treaty obligations, please visit the Estonia section of this website.

On 26 February 2004, Slovenia's National Assembly voted to require a forty percent female quota on election lists in the upcoming June 2004 elections for European Parliament. The legislation also requires the list to have at least one female candidate in its top half. Although Slovene women are well-represented in what are traditionally male-dominated fields, they still remain underrepresented in the political sector. According to "Delo," women constitute thirteen percent of towncouncils, twelve percent of parliament, and less than six percent of mayorships.

For more information, please visit Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.