*** HELI ASKOLA: Legal Responses to Trafficking in Women for Sexual Exploitation in the European Union. Hart Publishing (16C Worcester Place, Oxford, OX1 2JW, UK. Tel: (44-1865) 517530 - fax: 510710 - e-mail: mail@hartpub.co.uk - Internet: http://www.hartpub.co.uk ). "Modern Studies in European Law" series, No. 14. 2007, 218 pp, £35. ISBN 978-1-84113-650-9.
Combatting the sexual exploitation of women is an ever hotter political and social potato in countries in what is described in the introduction as "fortress Europe", which "have increasingly restricted (legal) migration (also but not only for prostitution), though they (paradoxically) also need the cheap workforce provided by (female) migrants". The question of sexual exploitation leads into other subjects although it is often reduced to sexual trafficking, as this book explains. The current trend is to compartmentalise the various angles of approach, but Heli Askola, a law lecturer at Cardiff University in the UK, explains at the start that observers of the issue tend to agree that an overall approach is needed to combat the trafficking of women for sexual exploitation.
The author starts by unravelling the knot of the issue while avoiding sliding too far into the controversies that surround such an matter, like the question of what constitutes legal prostitution as a profession and how this differs from exploitation. Heli Askola sets sexual exploitation in context against the wider background of gender inequality, leading him to dip into theories arising from the feminist movements. Heli Askola then tries to understand the influence of EU legislation in this domain and how it meshes with national legislation. To this end, he looks in detail at three countries where different policies apply, namely Sweden, the Netherlands and Italy. The book shows that the EU influence takes a multitude of sometime contradictory forms because while some of its elements (like the Daphne Programme to combat violence against women) are tools which can be used to tackle trafficking in women, other elements (like free circulation of individuals and Schengen) may facilitate trafficking in some cases. While countries in the East have long been mainly countries where trafficked women came from and travelled through, they are now starting to become countries of destination. The question of how to differentiate between trafficking (the white slave trade) and traditional prostitution and the mobility of prostitutes are also studied. The Court of Justice, for example, found in favour of French prostitutes in the 1980s who were living in Belgium and who argued that given that Belgium tolerated prostitution for Belgian nationals, it should also tolerate it for citizens of other countries in the EU who were in Belgium. The same situation arose twenty-five years later in the Netherlands for women from the new EU member states.
The author then looks at the fight against the trafficking of women in terms of illegal immigration, which is one of the most striking approaches to EU policy in this domain. The question of illegality rubs up against the question of combatting the trafficking of women from the viewpoint of criminal justice cooperation, a policy whose European aspect has been boosted but which remains deeply rooted in the policies implemented by the different member states, policies which, moreover, reflect "an attempt to strike difficult balances between the view of women as sufficiently independent/rational to decide what to do with their bodies and the view of them, especially foreign (non-EC) ones, as insufficiently independent to do this without state control or prosecution". Acting as a type of counterweight to the criminal dimension, Heli Askola does not forget to put the question of the trafficking of women in context in the legal set-up regarding human rights, whether formulated by the EU, the Council of Europe, or the United Nations.
After exploring the various aspects in this book which will be of interest to anyone considering the issue of the trafficking of women, Heli Askola reaches the conclusion that to be really effective, the fight against the trafficking of women for sexual exploitation has to move beyond the narrow expression of interests of the member states to which it currently tends to be reduced, to address the issue in a wider manner in order to reach the various causes, both within the EU and elsewhere, rather than simply dealing with the most visible aspects. The European Union has taken a step in the right direction, but the EU and especially its member states is still nowhere close to making use of the options available to it.
Frederik Ronse
*** ANNELIESE BALDACCINI, ELSPETH GUILD, HELEN TONER (Eds): Whose Freedom, Security and Justice? EU Immigration and Asylum Law and Policy. Hart Publishing (16C Worcester Place, OX1 2JW, UK. Tel: (44-1865) 517530 - Fax: 510710 - E-mail: mail@hartpub.co.uk - Internet: http://www.hartpub.co.uk ). "Essays in European Law" series. 2007, 550 pp, £70. ISBN 978-1-84113-684-4.
Much ink has flowed on the subject of the EU's immigration and asylum policy since the signing of the Amsterdam Treaty, and more specifically since the Tampere European Summit eight years ago which gave the decisive input for the creation at EU level of an 'area of liberty, security and justice'. This led on to substantial changes that are often hard for mere mortals to understand. The first (huge) merit of this collection of extremely high-level essays is that it takes on the entire issue and gives a general overview to shed light across the board. The book is in four sections. The first looks at constitutional aspects of the EU's immigration law, addressing issues like the free circulation of individuals, legislative processes, fundamental rights and the control exercised by the European Court of Justice. The second part looks at access to asylum and the protection of refugees, reviewing relevant areas of legislation and the EU's foreign policy action that is starting up in the field of asylum. The third part looks at frontiers and the implementation of immigration controls, with essays also on the criminalisation of illegal immigration, readmission agreements and the surveillance and detention of immigrants. The last part looks at the management of legal immigration, studying issues like the status of long-stay residents, family regrouping and economic migrants. The other major interest of the book is that all the authors make a no-holds-barred critical analysis, with many criticising the authoritarian and discretionary nature of EU policies.
(MT)
*** SMAIN LAACHER: Le peuple des clandestins. Editions Calmann-Lévy (31 rue de Fleurus, F-75006 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 49543600 -Fax: 49543640 - Internet: http://www.calmann-levy.fr ). 2007, 217 pp, €16. ISBN-978-2-7021-378648.
There are millions of people around the world today who have no official identity at all and are forced to the road to try to find somewhere they can settle. Across Europe, illegal immigrants (and even legal immigrants) are a spanner in the works of the legal system, national legislation and international conventions. Sociologist and researcher at the 'Centre d'étude des mouvements sociaux' (CNRS - Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales) in France, Smaïn Laacher spent several years carrying out research in Yemen, Pakistan, Morocco, Afghanistan, Algeria and Tunisia, getting to know people trying to emigrate to the EU in order to understand their reasons for leaving home and their travel conditions. His research raises the question of how one can remain an individual when one's daily life does not fit the norm and is governed by lack of legal rights. The book includes several portraits and personal stories which give readers an idea of the tragedy facing clandestines. By introducing readers to the daily lives of these pariahs, the book gives an insight into what they find (or found) fascinating about Europe. (JPe)
*** CHRISTIAN PHILIP: La protection des données personnelles dans l'espace pénal européen. Délégation pour l'Union européenne de l'Assemblée nationale (Boutique de l'Assemblée nationale, 4 rue Aristide Briand, F-75007 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 40630033. Internet: http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr ). "Rapport d'information" series, No. 3695. 2007, 48 pp, €3-50. ISBN 978-2-11-121879-6.
This report by a French parliamentarian addresses the controversial issue of providing adequate data protection for confidential personal details and the increasing exchanges of information among Member States' law enforcement authorities. Christian Philip regrets the gaps in the current legal set-up arising from the exclusion of the third pillar of the EU from the scope of application of Directive 95/45/EC on protecting personal information, stressing that EU law therefore does not abide by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. The rapporteur analyses the draft framework directives on personal data protection and the concept of availability of personal data, along with the reasons why their 'urgent adoption' is being held back.
(FRo)
*** CHRISTIAN BOUQUET, HELENE VELASCO-GRACIET (Eds.): Regards géopolitiques sur les frontières. L'Harmattan (5-7 rue de l'Ecole-Polytechnique, F-75005 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 40467920 - Fax: 43258203 - E-mail: diffusion.harmattan@wanadoo.fr - Internet: http://www.editions-harmattan.fr ). "Géographie et Cultures" series. 2007, 231 pp, €21-50. ISBN 978-2-296-02885-2.
This fine book is the second to arise from an inter-disciplinary conference in Bordeaux under the heading 'Frontière, frontières " (the first book, "Tropisme des frontières", was published in the same series in 2006). In what is now seen as a 'borderless' world, the authors write with wisdom and intelligence about shifting borders (in Palestine or Corsica, for example), impossible borders (like the ones some people in Italy wanted to create to establish a new country, Padania) and imaginary borders. In the conclusion, the book's editors stress that the inequality gap gives rise to new frontiers, while Olivier Clochard's essay (Poitiers University in France) expresses concern at the European Union's tendency to relocate 'its' border to foreign territories where prospective exiles are lining up.
(PBo)
*** FRANCIS SNYDER (Ed.): Designing the European Union - L'Union européenne: projets de société en devenir. Bruylant (67 rue de la Régence, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 5129842 - Fax: 5119477 - E-mail: info@bruylant.be - Internet: http://www.bruylant.be ). "Travaux du CERIC" series, No. 12. 2007, 210 pp, €45. ISBN 978-2-8027-2374-5.
This bilingual French and English book (mostly in English) follows on from the Quatrième Rencontre Internationale des Jeunes Chercheurs in Aix-en-Provence in France two years ago, which was characterised by highly diversified work, connected in the mind of the organisers by a triple dilemma: a "constitutional dilemma" of the EU's internal governance, a "social dilemma" - on how to reconcile and reform the various types of European Social Model - and a dilemma surrounding "governance sites", namely the EU's role in the world. The second part of the book looks at asylum and immigration against this backdrop. There is an essay on use of the idea of "Safe Third Countries", looking at how it was applied to Poland (before it joined the EU), Turkey and Morocco, with Martina Spernbauer arguing that the idea only encourages countries to align their legal systems with that of the EU if there is the possibility the countries might join the EU in the future, that is unless the cost of failing to take action is too great. Another researcher studies the European Commission's effort to have a say in immigration policy, and assesses use of the Open Coordination Method in this connection. The second part of the book looks at education and social justice and the third is devoted to political identity and constitutionalism, with an article on the European Arrest Warrant from the viewpoint of the limits of "constitutional pluralism".
(PBo)
*** STEVEN GREER: The European Convention on Human Rights. Achievements, Problems and Prospects. Cambridge University Press (The Edinburgh Building, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK. Tel: (44-1223) 312393 - Fax: 315052 - Internet: http://www.cambridge.org ). 2006, 365 pp, £60. ISBN 978-0-521-84617-2.
The Council of Europe's European Convention of Human Rights is definitely the most effective multinational legal system in the world for processing complaints about violations of human rights. Covering nearly eight hundred million people, the text has had a huge influence on countries in Europe and logically, this book on the subject starts at the beginning, with the penning of the convention, and then follows its impact over the course of time. This is, however, only a basis for the rest of the book because, as Steven Greer points out, the Convention is now facing a crisis arising from fundamental questions about its future and utility. The author therefore explains how even the convention's raison d'être has undergone subtle changes, identifying shortcomings in the system and suggesting ways of filling them. While the Convention on Human Rights is a good instrument, it has to be applied of course, and failure to respect it is still a regular or even systematic occurrence. Steven Greer studies its application by member states and looks at the tools available to the Council of Europe for encouraging national factors likely to ensure a high degree of conformity with the convention. To this end, statistics are required and the results reached by some researchers may raise eyebrows. The author notes, for example, that Hathaway's conclusions points towards the fact that apart from fully established democracies, the ratification of a human rights treaty tends to be associated with worse rather than better human rights behaviour, and it appears that the countries with the worst records in terms of human rights are often keener to ratify the treaties than countries with a good record.
(FRo)