Human trafficking at conferences

Discussing and building feminist futures is not possible for everybody. At this annual conference we are missing the contributions from several very strong feminist activists and gender experts working in the South. WIDE and WO=MEN invited these people, but the Dutch embassies in their countries could not provide them visas.


By Gea Meijers


Despite sending visa invitation letters from conference organizers in the past several months, Dutch embassies did not provide the prospective participants with visas. Some embassies were closed, while other embassies could set up visa appointments only after the conference.

Thanks to the preparation of the conference organizers and invited participants, many people were able to get their visa. But it is a shame that getting to Europe is at times practically impossible to arrange. Is it a lack in service offered by Dutch embassies, and other embassies in the EU, or is this practice political?

Governments are afraid that people will not return from conferences, and of people abusing such invitations for other purposes. Indeed, international conferences are being misused for human trafficking. WO=MEN staff actually did receive some questionable requests from people claiming to want to participate. In those circumstances, it is the responsibility of the organizers of the conference to make sure the participants are not involved in trafficking. But the fear of governments does still not excuse them for offering poor support, very slow processes of applying and withholding visas.


This article has been published in Daily Visions 10-10-2008